


Soulmates

by PeachTale



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Hisoka Morow Week, Hisoleo - Freeform, M/M, Soulmates, rareship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-13 08:48:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28650786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeachTale/pseuds/PeachTale
Summary: Soulmates aren't common, so no one really knows that much about them. Unfortunately for Leorio, he's going to wish that he did, particularly when his soulmate happens to be a rather eccentric and terrifying magician.
Relationships: Hisoka/Leorio Paladiknight
Comments: 32
Kudos: 84
Collections: Hisoka Morow Week





	1. Chapter 1

Day 6. AU

Soulmates were regarded as being rare, at least finding your own soulmate was, what with there being so many people in the world how would you find the one that would be linked to your very own soul? It was too difficult to do, and many people just didn’t have the funds to go out into the world and simply _look_ for their soulmate, most people needed to live after all.

But for those who did find their soulmates?

It was something to celebrate, because it meant that they had found someone who would balance them, make them a better person than they were already.

There was only one clue, one _hint_ that someone was your soulmate. A thin red thread that only the two linked souls could see, a thread that would stay connected until one of them dies, and then? The other wouldn’t be that far behind.

A soulmates link is regarded as a powerful bond, once a soulmate had been found they would be linked in such a way that it would be difficult to describe to anyone else who hadn’t already made their own bond. A soulmate was so much more than a romantic partner, it was more than just an intense connection too. They could hear your thoughts as you could hear theirs, they knew who you were to your very core, they would know when you were lying, they would know you in such a way that no one else ever could.

A soulmate could be a lover, a friend, a confidant, or all three given how intimate the connection was, it was hard for soulmates to see each other as anything else, but there was exceptions of course.

Leorio Paladiknight was more than happy to think that his soulmate was somewhere else in the world, as far as he was concerned there was no _way_ he was ever going to meet them during his lifetime, so he didn’t really pay too much attention when there was talk about soulmates. His goal was far more important than that after all, his goal required for him to have _money_ and besides there were many people who would never find their soulmates, they were happy and content as they were with their partners, so why should he worry about it?

To get the money that he needed, he decided to take part in the Hunter Exam, he needed the funds to go to college, as well as have some money put aside so that when he finally got to leave college he could help those were couldn’t _afford_ to visit a doctor.

He kept that in mind as he and his two new friends walked into a rather gloomy room, where they were given their badge numbers and then met a man who had clearly been part of the Exam a few times before, particularly when he pointed to a man who had caused another man to somehow lose his arms by turning them to flower petals.

Red hair, pale skin and a rather eccentric manner of dress, Tonpa called the man Hisoka the Magician.

Leorio narrowed his eyes at the man who had begun to walk away from the injured man, thinking for a moment that he could see a thin red thread on his little finger before he turned to look at his two friends. He wanted to become a doctor, but how could he help the man? He had _nothing_ in his bag to deal with this kind of blood loss, everything was more basic that he carried with him.

_It’s probably just a minor cut on his finger… or it’s just my imagination. Yea, probably just imagined it._

Those were the words he tried to tell himself, because what else could it be? He couldn’t imagine having _him_ as a soulmate.

Until they finally faced each other in the second part of the exam, having been running through the swamp lands, only for himself and Kurapika to witness first hand at how powerful the magician truly was as he used playing cards to kill the other examinee’s who had been willing to give up for this year, and wanted to have Hisoka fail too.

“On my signal.” Kurapika began as the magician began to walk over to them, a playing card appeared between his fingers. “We’ll run in opposite directions.” they waited for a few moments, until the wind began to blow. “Run!”

The two ran, though Leorio stopped, he couldn’t just run away like a coward, that wasn’t who he was. Wasn’t he trying to become a Hunter? He was likely going to face people like Hisoka, so he needed to face him _now_.

So he returned to face the man with a stick in his hands, although he was fully aware that it wouldn’t do him any good. He could brawl, but then again who _couldn’t_? Yet Hisoka showed that he had _skill_ in fighting, and likely other things up his sleeves too.

“Hmm?” a grin appeared on those lips, golden eyes practically glowing in delight at seeing the man approach him through the thick fog. “Ah, so my little soulmate is coming _to_ me.”

Hearing him say those words, Leorio looked down at his little finger before looking over at Hisoka, who held his hand up for him to see, along with the playing card the he still held in-between his fingers. There was a red thread that connection them, though the middle part that completely connected them wasn’t complete, all Leorio had to do was continue to walk closer to him and that would be the connection complete.

He stopped walking to just look at him.

“Are you surrendering? A wise choice.” he said with a nod, while Leorio gritted his teeth and glared at him.

“No. I don’t _want_ to be your soulmate, and I bet you don’t want to be mine either.” he began, yet the connection that was still rather weak told him that he was wrong with him assumption, the man before him was just _fine_ with this link they were creating.

“Oh? I wouldn’t say no to a _handsome_ man like yourself.” he said those words with complete confidence and ease, all the while Leorio just shook his head in disbelief even as he felt those golden eyes looking him over.

“Well sorry to say, _I_ am saying no to _you_.” he snapped and began to move back the way he came, he couldn’t charge at him, the connection would link them together completely and that wasn’t what he wanted.

Yet his wishes were ignored, as the magician came at him, though as he moved to prepare to strike him with his stick; even though every fibre of his being was telling him that the man was a lot more dangerous than he realised; a pale hand reached out to him, and he saw a rather odd look in those golden eyes, as though the man was disappointed in him, and he wondered if this would be the last thing he would ever see, his soulmate connecting with him as he was killing him.

There was a loud whack as something struck Hisoka’s temple, causing him to grunt and take a step back from the other man.

It was a minor reprieve as Leorio looked to the side to see where it had come from, because it had looked like a fishing line, and then his heart sunk as he realised who would have attempted such an attack, only to feel his blood run cold as he saw Gon panting, gripping his fishing pole like his life depended on it.

Which Leorio knew that it likely would, unfortunately.

“Did… I make it?” the young boy asked as he looked over at the two men, completely unaware that he had interrupted a soul connection and not someone trying to murder his friend.

The magician turned to look over at him, Leorio could now _feel_ the connection they had so clearly, he could tell that the other man was impressed with the boy, for being so brave to not only attack him in such an ingenious way, but also being able to sneak up on him like that, yet Leorio’s heart was racing in fear as to what he might do to his young friend.

“Gon, get outta here!” he yelled as Hisoka began to walk away from him and towards the boy, though it didn’t _appear_ to be in a threatening manner, but he could _feel_ the intentions behind it, he _knew_ that the man’s relaxed strides meant little. “Hey, your fight is with _me!_ ” he tried to strike him with the stick he still held, he foolishly thought he had a chance since he was attacking from behind.

Hisoka punched him without needing to look at him, and as Leorio began to pass out he wondered if he was actually about to die, before he heard a quiet voice in his mind.

“ _Not yet my little soulmate.”_

Leorio had no idea if Gon was going to be okay or not, or if Hisoka would murder him as he had with all the other examinee’s.

Leorio winced at the light that was coming through the tee leaves, before realising that he wasn’t dead, he _wasn’t_ in the swamp where he had been knocked out, and he looked around himself to see the other examinee’s standing on a path, before he felt the ache on the side of his face and he winced in pain. He realised that no one was looking over at him, or even coming to check on him and his injuries, and then he felt a rather unique presence near him, causing him to turn and see the red haired magician leaning against the tree that he was leaning against, with his arms cross and looking rather pleased with himself, while everyone kept a large space between them.

Leorio attempted to do the same, soulmate or not, he didn’t want to be anywhere near him. “Ah…” his face hurt too much to be able to move too far away from him, and as he looked down at their fingers, he saw that the thread was completely linked together, which meant that Hisoka must have brought him here as he couldn’t see Gon _or_ Kurapika.

“I think you must have some painkiller in your bag… oh wait, Gon has it though doesn’t he?” the magician turned to look at him, teasing him as he did so.

Had Leorio not been in such pain, he would have attempted to physically hurt him again, even if last time that had been the cause of this injury. “Shut up.” his pride had been wounded, not only because Hisoka had been the one to bring his unconscious body to the meeting spot, but also because he had been so reliant on _Gon_ to get him out of a tricky situation.

“Don’t be like that. I will admit that I _never_ thought that someone like yourself would be my soulmate, yet it seems we both have to live with it.”

“Huh?” he looked up at the man, wincing as he did so. “So… what did you think your soulmate would be like?” he was curious, and he couldn’t feel any malicious intent from their connection either.

There was a pause as Hisoka thought over the question. “I hadn’t given it much thought before, though never had I thought my soulmate would be _your_ age, or indeed someone so money hungry who would want to go to college to be a doctor, to _help_ the poor.” he was clearly teasing him again, but the information he told him had him wondering if Hisoka had been able to overhear the conversation he had with Kurapika earlier, but he had been further ahead of them hadn’t he?

“Shut up.” he said, bristling at his teasing tone.

“I suppose the truth would be that I never thought that I _would_ meet my soulmate, I figured they would be in a job that would mean our paths would never cross.” he shrugged and looked down at him. “After all, someone like myself likely _shouldn’t_ have a soulmate, and am sure there will be debates about my even having a soul as well.” he said all of that with a smile on his face, as though amused by the whole situation.

Leorio began to gingerly rub his cheek, trying to sooth the pain. “No seriously, I need you to shut up.” he could also feel a headache coming on, but it wasn’t due to the man talking, if anything it might have been due to their newly made connection, but why did it seem that Hisoka wasn’t affect by it?

The magician crouched down next to him, carefully taking his face into his hands, as Leorio felt those sharp nails press lightly against his cheek, he was barely able to stop himself from trembling before him, even if he was somewhat assured that Hisoka wouldn’t kill him, he could certainly harm him.

“I didn’t hit you that hard… perhaps the fall caused other injuries.” the pad of both his thumbs began to lightly stroke his cheeks, soon Leorio found himself closing his eyes, he felt the ache being soothed, and it was due to something so simple. “Hmm? Ah, so it seems that the touch of a soulmate does help to ease the pain.” the way he said it was like he was examining him, which resulted in Leorio to open one eye to look at him with a raised eyebrow that the other man noticed. “There are certain things that don’t occur with every soulmate, like the touch of a soulmate is meant to ease the pain they are feeling, which appears to be true with you.”

“Really?” this was the first he was hearing about it, though he hadn’t ever though of reading up about it before, he hadn’t thought that he would ever find his soulmate after all.

“Hmm, so we are now bonded together until _death_.” the way he said the last word, with his golden eyes sparkling in joy caused Leorio’s heart to sink.

“Not yet, just… just let me live out some of my life first before you kill yourself!” he cried out in protest, wincing in pain as Hisoka moved his hand off his swollen cheek, though with a scoff the magician placed his hand back into the injured cheek again as Leorio pressed his face against the cool hand, feeling better with his touch.

“I am not planning on dying any time soon, but should I, I will be sure to warn you about it first, so you can make any arrangements.”

The teasing tone was back again. “Like am gonna give you _any_ of my information.” he snapped, wincing as the hand moved off his cheek again, it was as though Hisoka was testing the soothing touch of a soulmate as he returned his hand to his cheek and stroked him again.

“Am sure our paths will cross again during this exam.” he told him with a smile, giving the young man’s cheek one final stroke before standing up and walking away from him, leaving Leoiro with an aching cheek that he couldn’t figure out what to do to sooth it without calling Hisoka back to him.

Yet he didn’t have to as Gon and Kurapika turned up, handing him his bag and he got out the painkillers, the pair asked him what he could remember and he decided to play dumb, there was no way that he wanted to worry the two about him not only finding his soulmate, but the fact that his soulmate was also a killer.

For the rest of the exam Leorio had managed to avoid Hisoka, at least for a few stages, until it came to the fourth stage where things became a little bit more complicated. He had paired up with Kurapika, the younger man sticking with him because he wasn’t exactly the best at fending for himself, as was proven when he tried to help Tonpa, only to fall for the trap that had been carefully laid out. Had Kurapika not helped out, Leorio would have to take the test next year and he wanted to try and avoid that if possible.

So the pair kept walking around until finally it was decided that they should bathe, quickly of course, but Kurapika felt that it would be smarter to have a few moments of reprieve before they began the hunt for Leorio’s badge to get him the points he needed to pass this stage of the exam.

What Leorio didn’t expect was for the magician to be leaning against a tree with a grin on his face, he was barley able to repress a shiver as he saw how the man looked at him.

“My little soulmate, it’s good to see you again.” he walked over to him with all the confidence and elegance of a cat.

In that moment, Leorio hated him, catching the look in those golden eyes he realised the the other man was well aware of his feelings towards him, even though deep down he did actually want to magician as the man wanted him. The soulmate connection appeared to be getting stronger and more intense, yet from what Leorio had learned from Kurapika; he had wondered if the other man knew more about soulmates and they had plenty of time to kill in Trick Tower. It was lucky that Killua hadn’t taken much notice of their conversation, or perhaps he simply didn’t care, given how rare soulmates were after all, had he taken an interest in it, everything would be out in the open. Yet how could he admit to them who his soulmate was? A man who unnerved every single one of them?

Kurapika had explained that every time the newly connected soulmates meet, their connection, their _link_ would become stronger and deeper than it had before. Of course he hadn’t believed that, but now he realised that it really was true, and he _hated it_.

“What do you want?” he was blunt, really he didn’t want to deal with him right now, he wanted to focus on getting his badges, on passing this stage of the exam.

“Oh, your badge of course.”

Now he took a step back, but he didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t fight him after all, but he was unwilling to give up his badge to him. “No _way_ , and am not even your target, Tonpa was, so what are...” he trailed off as the dots finally connected. “You… don’t know who your target is do you? So you’re just going around to find three random numbers… all because you enjoy killing people that much!” he was scared as he raised his voice, and a look on the magician’s face told him that the other man was well aware of it.

He wished Kurapika would hurry up and get out of the water to help him, even though the other man had _just_ gotten in.

“I thought so.” he said with a sigh, appearing to be completely relaxed before looking over towards the river that Kurapika was currently bathing in. “And what of...”

“Another guy, with the monkey.” he was quick to get out, to stop him from targeting his friend, he wasn’t going to repeat what happened with Gon again.

“I see.” it was clear that his mood had soured from that knowledge, yet it wasn’t visible on his face, Leorio could just _tell_ that he was annoyed, which was odd since the man seemed to have been able to keep his other emotions hidden from him before, unless he _wanted_ him to continue being afraid of him? “Well I suppose...” a playing card appeared between his fingers.

“No way am I letting you hurt him.” he moved forward, bringing out his pocket knife and Hisoka paused.

“And if I hurt you?”  
“Not without a fight.”

They both knew that this wouldn’t end well for him, he wasn’t skilled in fighting, yet the way Hisoka was looking at him caused him to pause, as the man brought a hand to his face before he began to laugh.

“What...” he wasn’t sure _why_ Hisoka was laughing, until he finally heard a quiet moan, and his blood ran cold before he tensed up and was ready to attack him if needed.

“So, my little soulmate wishes to fight someone stronger than him. That won’t do.” he then started to walk towards him, forcing Leorio to back up against another tree, before a playing card was held to his neck as Hisoka leaned in close with his breath caressing his skin. “You need to live to see out your goals don’t you? What use is a dead man who desired to be a doctor and help those less fortunate than himself?”

He didn’t know what to do, he was trembling before the man, scared and he was fully aware that he was aware of it too.

“Be careful, I would _hate_ to see you get hurt.” he whispered into his ear, taking a deep breath before moaning quietly and then he walked away from him, leaving Leorio on his own once again, not know what had just happened, but he did know was that he needed Kurapika to hurry up.

He wanted to get the hell out of this place.

For the rest of the exam Leorio avoided Hisoka as much as he was able to, but with the final exam it was utterly impossible to keep away from him, yet it seemed like this time it was the _magician_ who was keep his distance from him this time round. Of course that might also be due to the fact that it would reveal that the two men were each other’s soulmates, and Leorio got the feeling that although Hisoka had a flare for the dramatics, he liked his privacy too.

After the incident by the river, when Kurapika returned to Leorio he had known right away that something had happened, yet Leorio wouldn’t tell him much, and he was lucky that the blonde never spoke of his behaviour to Gon and Killua when they all met up again. Yet Leorio could feel how those grey eyes looked at him from time to time, with concern for him, even though he was acting as he usually did, feel more at ease now he was around the other’s.

With the exam finally over, the newly made group of friends all agreed to meet up at Yorknew City on the 1st of September, and he made his way to the airship that would take him to the city, saying goodbye to Kurapika as he went and boarded as the other man was going to another city.

He never noticed those golden eyes watching him until he heard that voice.

“Fancy meeting you here.”

Brown eyes looked up to meet the red head, who gave him a sly grin, as though he had planned this to happen, while Leorio just glared at him while his annoyance went through their link.

“Oh don’t be like that my little soulmate, it’s simply by chance that we are heading to the same place.”

“Hmph, I guess, I doubt you’d get far in medical school.” he huffed as he walked by him, checking his ticket for the room number and grateful that he had some cash to spare so that he could actually sleep in a bed instead of a seat. Though he could feel his soulmate following him down the hall, like a murderous shadow.

“A challenge? Am sure I _could_ get in, but I doubt I would make a good doctor, I don’t have the kind of bedside manner that’s required.”

He shivered at the mere _thought_ of Hisoka becoming a doctor and actually _helping_ people. “So why are...” he began to ask, just to get that vision out of his head.

“Oh, that’s a secret, but am sure you’ll figure it out.” he tease him as Leorio stopped in front of his door, but the magician just continued walking down the hall, waving at him as he did so.

While the man creeped him out, there was still that link between them, and really he wanted to know about about him, he wanted to know what had driven him to kill, he wanted to learn all the layers that the man obviously had, and yet he also just wanted to hide in his room and never leave it for the whole trip.

‘ _I can hear you my little soulmate.’_

Leorio flinched, even though Kurapika had told him about this, but surely this was also something that rarely happened, so why was this also a thing that they could do? The soothing touch was one thing, but this too?

‘ _Oh this psychic connection between soulmates can only be formed if one of them has the capabilities for it.’_

He heard Hisoka chuckle down the link, but he still didn’t know how to reply to him. “This… isn’t real.” he murmured to himself, hoping that this was his exhausted brain was simply playing tricks on him.

‘ _Why not come and see me in my room then, I will prove it to you.’_

The challenge was set and then he could feel the connection disappear, but Leorio had a vague idea where his room was, an image of the room number came to his mind. Though he debated about going, he felt he should stay where he was, he was safe in his room after all, but since Hisoka was his soulmate and he knew so much more about it than he did, even though he could ask Kurapika or look up books about it, he also needed to have some spare time to study and relax rather than worry about his soulmate suddenly appearing out of nowhere in his mind.

His mind was made up, and he took a deep breath as he left his room, going down the hall way as Hisoka had done earlier on.

He had to go up the stairs and down another hallway, before he came to the door that had the numbers that had been pressed into his mind, knocking on it and expecting either no one to answer the door, or for someone to open it, someone that would clearly not be Hisoka.

Yet as the door opened, it revealed the red haired magician, who wore a towel around his waist, his wavy hair damp and he looked nothing like the terrifying killer than had haunted him throughout the Hunter Exam. He just stared at him, unable to believe this was Hisoka, this was his soulmate, looking at him made him feel inadequate even though he was physically fine, he just needed to learn how to fight properly, and Hisoka clearly was a man who trained a lot before getting into fights, considering the faded scars he saw across his body.

“Are you going to continue standing there, or are you coming in?” he asked with a grin, clearly pleased at the reaction he was getting from the younger man.

A scowl was sent his way and Leorio came into the room, which was similar to his own. It was plain and comfortable, but the main difference was the size, there was more space to walk around and there was also an actual sofa, when his own room simply had the basics, plus this room had a _view_ that gave a clear view as to where they were going. Clearly Hisoka had money to burn, and Leorio couldn’t help but feel the envy flow through him.

“All right, so you know more things than I do about this whole soulmate thing.” he turned to look at the man, keeping his eyes trained on his face, because he did _not_ want to stare at his chest and abs again.

“Am sure that Kurapika has explained a few things to you.”

“Well yea, but I never thought that it would happen between _us_ , I had been told it was rare.”

“Pity.” Hisoka shook his head at him before moving to sit down on the sofa, gesturing for Leorio to join him, but the other man simply moved to sit at the small dining room table instead. “You realise that I am not actually going to hurt you.” he commented with amusement.

“Maybe, but you are still someone that I should be weary about regardless. I know you are wanting to fight Gon.”

“Hmm, that is true.” he smiled over at him, before stretching, allowing Leorio to eye him up once again.

Though Leorio found himself doing more than that, he was now well aware that Hisoka could look into his mind, but he ignored that though, looking him over and wondering how he looked like _this_ when those eccentric outfits didn’t even give away that this was what he was hiding beneath those pieces of clothing.

“The link that we have, as well as the soothing touch, would be regarded as being rare, _but_ people finding their soulmate is also rare, so would that actually be true? Or is it simply because neither soulmate has actually tried either of the methods that we have?”

“Wh… what? You mean that all soulmates could have this?”

“It’s likely.”

“I never thought of it like that before, even though there are all those books…”

“The books only really skim the true nature of a soulmate.”

“It sounds like you know what you’re talking about. Do you know someone who has a soulmate?” he asked curiously, because how else would Hisoka know about these things if he didn’t get them from a book?

“Yes.” was the simple answer, one he wasn’t going to expand upon either. “Most people assume that your soulmate is meant to _complete_ you, to make your own soul _whole_. Which isn’t correct, since many people who don’t find their soulmates aren’t lost and lacking something more, really a soulmate gives you a different perspective on things, makes you look at life in a different way, the strong your bond, the better the connection to see a new perspective.”

“So that means with you I’m just going to see death and...” Leorio began, because what else could he see by looking at Hisoka really?

“No, you are just taking the part of me that you know about.” he chided him, before continuing. “If you take away my love of fighting and killing, what else is there?”

 _Now_ Leorio just stared at him with confusion and despair, he didn’t understand what he was getting at, though Hisoka could sense it too.

‘ _Think, my little soulmate, you should take a step back when you look at me.’_

“Could you… not do that? It’s creepy.” he admitted, after all they were now in the same room together, they were also alone too, the magician didn’t need to do that when they were together like this.

“Very well. Think calmly, everything you learned during the Hunter Exam, what did you get from that?”  
The young man frowned, looking out of the window as he thought it all over, all that he had seen the man do from before the Exam had even begun when he took one man’s arms off all because he bumped into him without apologising, latter learning that he attempted to kill an examiner the year before because he wasn’t up to _his_ standards, then when he had killed the false examiner in such a dramatic fashion simply to prove who the real one was without the whole group arguing with each other. Then when he killed the applicants who attempted to fight him, who wanted to kill him, and of course when he decided to _play_ examiner with them before turning to himself and Kurapika.

“I...” he trailed off, because the main point was that he liked to fight, it was obvious, but then he remembered the final exam, he never actually fought Kurapika when he gave up, and when he had been fighting the old man, he was clearly holding back too, not just that he wasn’t allowed to kill the other man, but like he wasn’t going to waste his energy on something so trivial. “You...” his brown eyes widened. “You like a challenge.”

“And?” he nodded at him as he looked over at him.

“And what?”

“Challenges are usually meant to be face head on, or if given prior warning you can plan ad work towards them accordingly.” Hisoka informed him and noticed that Leorio’s jaw dropped at hearing him say that.

“Is _that_ what you think I should get from you?”

“Perhaps, though I doubt that you would thrive from a good fight like I do.”

While that was true, the challenge part did make sense, Leorio could take that in many other ways too, not simply for fighting as Hisoka clearly used it for.

“So what do you get from me?” he had begun to wonder that in the back of his mind, when the magician made the comment about soulmates giving the other a different perspective, but what could someone like him get from _him_ of all people?

A frown appeared on his face and now Leorio noticed the freckles that were sprinkled over his cheeks, the bridge of his nose, before realising that Hisoka actually had freckles all over his body, he just never took any notice of it before.

“I suppose it would be _compassion_.” the word was practically spat out.

“Compassion?” he repeated, blinking in confusion, because was that _really_ something that the magician could learn from him?

“You are willing to aid anyone who needs it, regardless if they are an enemy or not.” He looked over at him in disapproval. “I heard about you being bitten by those snakes, you were foolish to even try to help them, but you did so anyway, without a thought to your own well being.”

“Wait you would have...” he wasn’t sure why he was even surprised by this revelation, it _was_ Hisoka after all.

“Left them there, yes.”

He swallowed the lump that rose in his throat, though he knew that Hisoka was cold, he hadn’t realised that this was how bad he was. Was he truly his soulmate? Why couldn’t he have had someone who was just a _little_ bit easier going that him? Why did he have someone so cruel?

“Oh am not that bad, I simply don’t see the need to care for anyone who have no benefit to me.” he commented, hearing his mental anguish clearly.

“Because it’s a nice thing to do. Not everyone needs to benefit you, really you seem to be going about making enemies with that kind of attitude.”

A grin came over his lips as he looked at him. “I welcome it.”

Leorio just stared at him, the wheels were turning in his brain. “But… as your soul mate, when people eventually learn about us, won’t they also become _my_ enemy too? They would know that if they kill me, they would kill you too.”

That caused the grin to slip off his face and he thought it over, it had been something he never thought to consider before now.

“And they will be able to kill me a lot easier than you.” Leorio trailed off as he noticed the sharp glare sent his way.

“Should anyone even attempt to kill you, they will be dead _long_ before I am.” he vowed, though Leorio wasn’t sure if such a thing could actually happen, then again he wasn’t sure how long a soulmate could live after their link was cut off in such a way. “If nothing else, I can train you to become stronger than you are right now.”

“Wa… train me?”

“Yes, in fact.” with a simple flick of his wrist a playing card appeared in his hand and he handed it to him.

Leorio reached over to take it from him, noticing that while the back had the normal playing card pattern, the front was actually the address for a place called Heavens Arena, and as he looked from the card to Hisoka and back again he frowned in confusion. “What’s this for?”

“To help you. If I am right, your course isn’t due to start just yet, so you have time to train with me.”

“I don’t have the money for this, I _need_ my cash for college.” he started to argue, he wasn’t going to waste more of his money just because Hisoka wasn’t able to stop making enemies.

“I will pay for it my little soulmate, you don’t have to concern yourself about that.”

“Huh?” he tilted his head at him, unsure if he had heard him correctly. “Wait... what do you mean by...”

“As your soulmate, I need to take care of you.” he began. “Therefore I can easily pay for your education.”

“But...” he didn’t know _what_ to think, Hisoka was going to pay for his education? Really? “I can’t let you do that.”

“Oh?” he looked rather curious as to the reason why.

“This is _my_ goal, it’s the whole reason I took the Hunter Exam, I could earn more money being a Hunter…” he began, before he trailed off, sensing that Hisoka wanted to talk.

“Keep the money you earn being a Hunter, you were wanting to make a practice for those less fortunate than yourself when you graduate, correct? That’s where your money can go towards instead.”

Leorio didn’t know what to think, what to say, he felt like crying, a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, the stress of knowing he had to pay for his education, along with rent and food was taken off him. All because this man, his soulmate was will to take the burden for him.

“I...” he bowed his head to him, much to Hisoka’s amusement. “Thank you.”

“We’re soulmates, I need to protect you in any way I am able to, physically or financially, but this agreement means that you will come to Heaven’s Arena, and I will train you, understand?”

It wasn’t exactly what he wanted, but if it meant life would be made easier because he didn’t have to worry about funding, he would do it. Even though he didn’t want Hisoka as his soulmate, they were stuck together, and really how bad could it be?


	2. Workout

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hisoka knows what Leorio needs, if he is going to become a proper Hunter he needs to learn nen, not to mention his workout needs to change to suit his nen training. Not that he was going to do the nen training, he knew what his strengths were. Though now Leorio was learning a little bit more about his soulmate, and he didn't realise just how stressful the man was.

Leorio’s whole body was _aching_.

It didn’t feel like he was at the gym working out; it was something he was used to after all; instead it felt like he was thrown back into the Hunter Exam again, only it was much, much worse since his friends weren’t around to give him the support that he needed, and of course to _add_ to that there was someone telling him _exactly_ what he was meant to be doing and by how much. So he pushed himself, until he was almost a mere puddle on the floor, panting and gulping down the cool water like it was the elixir of life.

Hisoka merely watched him, a pleased look on his face. His little soulmate was pushing himself, even though he had felt every single grumble that had come through their link, which appeared to be getting stronger every time they were around each other, though he made sure to keep his side of the link shut, wanting to limit just how much Leorio could feel of his own emotions through it, though he was finding that it was trial and error now, compared to what it had been like when the link had first formed and he appeared to be skilled at it, adapting to it with easy like many things he managed to pick up. Until he was unable to do that with ease, though he figured it was because their soul bond was just getting stronger, and really soulmates weren’t _meant_ to have big secrets kept form each other, they should be open and honest, but that wasn’t who Hisoka was, and he wasn’t sure that he could change that part of him for _anyone_ , even his soulmate.

“Are you… _trying…_ to kill me?” Leorio panted as he finally looked up at him, though his brown eyes weren’t able to focus too well on the man, the sweat dripping in his eyes and he wiped his forehead, feeling like he needed to have a break soon, he _needed_ to eat, he couldn’t keep doing this for much longer.

“And why would I do that?” crouching down next to him, he had a teasing smile on his face as he reached to brush his hair off his forehead. “But we’re done for today.” now he gestured to the showers, which was enough to give the young man his second wind, as he sprang up and quickly made his way to the showers.

Had Leorio been thinking more clearly, he would have noticed that there had been no one coming into the Arena’s gym for the past two hours, though when they had arrived there had been a few fighters working out, all of them had given Hisoka weary glances but they kept quiet. It didn’t take too long for them to leave, and for the rest of the time they were completely alone.

Chuckling Hisoka moved to clean the equipment that Leorio had been using and sweating on, though his soulmate was in good shape already but for him to become a strong nen user, to be able to survive in this world and earn the money he needed to build his own clinic, he would need to have a more immaculate form than what he had now. Right now he was base level, which was the perfect foundation to build upon, then he would need to learn about _nen_ , since there was no Hunter, alive or dead, who would get fair in their career without it.

That had prompted him to do a bit of research, to find someone who would be more suited to help Leorio, because _he_ certainly wouldn’t be up to the task. He may have some patience, but the way he unlocked people’s nen wasn’t exactly _safe_ , and he certainly didn’t want to do that to his soulmate. Not that he would even _suggest_ that Leorio wouldn’t survive it, but he didn’t want to break him in such a way, there was a risk of death after all. Although there were a few nen teachers out in the city, he needed to find one that would be able to handle Leorio that would _aid_ him rather than deter him, after all he was going to be learning nen without his friends cheering him on, and though his soulmate would be there, he wasn’t the type to _actively_ cheer people on in such a way.

Once he was done cleaning the equipment they had both used, he picked up the water bottles that Leorio had used and headed to the showers himself. He hadn’t worked out as hard as he usually would, since he was keeping a close eye on Leorio’s form, he wouldn’t let his soulmate injury himself when he was working on his core strength.

Entering the steam filled room he heard him moan softly, feeling through the link just how physically and mentally exhausted he was, never mind the fact that food was frequently going round his head. It was a feeling that Hisoka hadn’t felt in a _long_ time, so long in fact that as it flooded through their link almost made _him_ moan, as though he too could feel the aches and pains through his own body, in an unusual way but he was quick to push it away and he stripped off while he made his way to one of the shower cubicles, as he began to carefully taper the link between them again, just so he could feel the tingles of Leorio’s pain instead of it hitting him all at once.

What was unusual was that he loved pain, he _thrived_ on it, to such an extent that it was regarded as being rather odd, but through the link it affected him _negatively_ as it did with Leorio, which made him wonder as he began to wash himself, if the same would happy if it was pain that came from _him_ to Leorio instead? Would he feel the pain in the same positive way that he did?

Though the studies that had been done, the books that have been written, as well as finding open soulmates were few and far between, after all soulmates would risk having people search for them, to be questioned constantly about their links, about what connected them, and then be forced to _prove_ that they were indeed soulmates. At least that what happened to those who admitted they were soulmates in the past, who ended up going under the radar to get away from those who were hounding them. Not even Hunters bothered to take up the hunt to find soulmates, there was no reward to be had from outing them, no one ever bothered to make a case to have Hunters look for them, after all the risk was that some Hunters might have a soulmate and if they wanted to keep it quiet, well the Hunters hunting them were asking for a fight weren’t they?

Yet Hisoka was lucky, given that he was raised by his parents who are soulmates, who told him the basics of what he should look out for if and _when_ he found his soulmate, about the red thread that would link them, the sensations he would feel through his body when he saw them, of being able to tell without issue how they were feeling, and potentially what they were thinking.

Turning off the shower, he stepped out and walked past Leorio’s cubicle to grab one of the towels, hearing the young man’s water turn off and he glanced to the side to see his hand grab the towel that had been hanging outside his stall before he stepped out with it wrapped securely around his waist, only to see the magician standing completely naked and taking a towel from the bundle.

“What are you _doing?!”_

Golden eyes looked over at him, full of mischief as he paused what he was doing. “Getting a towel.”

“Why didn’t you get one _before_ you had a shower?!”

Hisoka was well aware that Leorio was rather _loud_ , but he forgot to take into account that being in the shower room would mean that he was louder than usual, so he winced and the young man stopped ranting, feeling the pain through the link though it was clearly subdued, but he was fully aware that Hisoka could tone down what he was able to feel, even though he still wasn’t sure how that worked.

“Because this is what I normally do.” he informed him as he wrapped the towel around his waist and looked at him again, as though he _hadn’t_ given away a weakness, like none of that had ever happened. “I never realised just how loud you were… hmm, now am wondering...” he reached out towards him, his nails just barely scratching Leorio’s bare chest and the young man jumped away from him.

He clearly felt the lust running down the link, now the magician wasn’t even _trying_ to hide it from him, he _wanted_ him to know what he was feeling towards him and Leorio didn’t like it. He was just getting used to the fact that this incredibly intimidating man was his soulmate, never mind that he was also into him in such a way.

Of course he couldn’t deny that he felt something towards the man, but he wasn’t sure that it was genuine care and affection or if it was just how the link they had, their soul bond worked.

“H… hey, knock it off.” he crossed his arms and attempted to look somewhat stern and intimidating, not that it worked, as the look Hisoka was giving him became even more lustful than before. “Am serious, _stop_.”

The lust that had been leaking through the link was practically washed away, but there was some lingering tones of it, as if the magician was respecting him but his feelings towards him couldn’t be turned off so easily.

“Perhaps I have pushed you a bit too hard.”

“ _Perhaps?!”_ once again he exclaimed, causing Hisoka to wince again at how his voice vibrated through the room.

“However this is to make sure you are prepared for what comes next.”

“Huh?”

Hisoka knew he had lost him, because how would Leorio know about nen? He didn’t have even a basic grasp of it like Gon did, though the boy had clearly been unaware that he was doing anything in relation to nen, but in his mind the boy was a rare and rather _special_ case. Leorio however would need more training of the body and mind to have his nen come out, of course the latter part would be for the nen teacher to deal with.

“I can’t train you in this next part.” he admitted, though it wasn’t remorseful, he just knew where his strengths lay, and this wasn’t one of them.

He had never been cut out as a teacher, had he been? All his little _fruits_ would have been given a quick lesson on nen, and likely he would have just broken them with his training. What kind of fun would that be?

“What… do you mean?”

Rather than answering, he got dressed, with Leorio following suit, keeping his distance still. At least he _assumed_ it was a safe distance from him, even though he had been shown many times that the magician was _fast_ , the distance he had put between them was _nothing_ to him.

Taking a breath, Hisoka began to explain nen, letting Leorio know that it was something he would need to learn if he were to become an accomplished Hunter. “While being a Hunter will help to gain knowledge that only the Hunter Association would have access to, like certain medical information, but you might have to hunt these things down yourself, as some doctors are rather elusive.”

Leorio sat down on the bench to put his socks on, it was interesting just how much information that Hisoka seemed to know on the subject. “How do you know all of this?”

“Hmm? Oh, it’s the whole reason why so many wish to become a Hunter, not just due to the money, or the immunity, but also the amount of information that is more widely available. It’s why it’s such a difficult process to go through.”

Leorio frowned at that, the Hunter Exam felt like it was just weeding out the weak, he blinked in realisation and look at him. “So why did you want to become a Hunter?” he was curious, after all he didn’t think that Hisoka was the type to want to gain knowledge after all, or to find someone what he cared about.

“I want to kill without the risk of being arrested. A Hunter is immune to the judgement of society.”

he felt the revulsion coming through the link, but he moved away from his own personal reasons of getting the licence and returned to the main point of this conversation. “And while you’ve been sleeping, I have started to look for medical notes that are being looked into before they will be passed over to the medical world at large.”

Hearing him say that made Leorio stare at him, unable to believe that a man who had _just_ admitted to being a Hunter because he wished to kill without the worry of the law coming down on him, also confessed that he was looking into the medical advancements and tests for _him_.

“You… did that for me?”

“Of course.” was the easy reply as he pulled his shirt on. “However, I do need you to take this next step seriously, just as you are towards your doctorate.”

It was odd to hear Hisoka sound so _serious._ His voice and tone were normally light, teasing, and that was even when he was making threats, but to hear him sound like this? It was rather unnerving, though Leorio kind of liked this serious side of him, it was proof enough that he did care about his future. It also was nice to know that there was someone in his life who was more than willing to go that extra mile for him, who was actively _helping_ him, in his own unique way to have him get through school, and now he was helping him access more information as well as how to be a more effective Hunter.

“You… didn’t have to do that.” he began as he buttoned up his shirt, while Hisoka put on the rest of his eccentric outfit, the black and pink certain made him stand out in the crowd, but it suited the vibe of the tower from what he had learned visiting her.

“If I hadn’t done it, you wouldn’t have known about it.” he pointed out as he finished putting on his wrist bands before looking over at him. “I have already sent you the basic information, should you wish to look through it.”

It was just _too weird_ , Leorio just felt like it made no sense what the magician was _willing_ to do for him. “Why are you doing all of this? It’s not because we’re soulmates, you could have just ignored me after the exam, you didn’t _have_ to help me.”

Brown eyes looked into amber, and the magician grinned. “You’re interesting.” the moment he said those words, Leorio started to inch away from him again, causing him to chuckle. “Do you think that I am only interested in fighting you?”

“Well, you do give off that kind of vibe.” he admitted, because that’s how Hisoka made it seem, that he _only_ wanted to fight himself, Gon, Kurapika and Killua, though he was well aware that his eyes were on Gon, as though he saw something in the boy that no one else seemed to see.

“I just wish to learn more about you.” in a blink of an eye he was in front of Leorio, who looked at him, still unable to get over that he could move so fast. “Oh and you are still so fearful of me.” he tutted softly. “Though I won’t deny that I can’t _wait_ to see just how powerful you’ll become, but for that to happen you will need to learn _nen_.”

“And why can’t you teach me?” he tried to not take a step back, to stand his ground.

“You need a teacher who can explain everything, and since you are still weary of me even with our _link,_ it would be better suited for you to have a teacher.” he said, not going into how he would make a _terrible_ teacher. “I know someone who would be able to teach you.”

“Did they teach you?” because if they had, then _maybe_ he would be able to get some information about Hisoka, like his past, his childhood.

He simply chuckled and shook his head, shooting down that idea. “We met here in Heaven’s Arena, before they left after realising that this wasn’t suited to it, they have instead taken to teaching people how to fight, and for a select few they learn nen.”

“So they weren’t a big fighter?” it was a relief to hear that this teacher wasn’t like some of the fighters here, or indeed like Hisoka.

“Not to the same extent as what the tower required them to be.” he confirmed, which was enough to have Leorio agree to meet them.

After getting to meet the nen teacher, picking a school nearby to study, Leorio had to balance out his life to be able to also meet up with Hisoka to workout at the Arena gym, of course it wasn’t as frequent as the magician would like, though it was either that or not at all and he was pleased to see that Leorio had looked through all the notes that he had sent him, as well as getting to grips with the nen training, though he was slow at learning the basics, but that was the draw back in learning nen at a slower pace.

The young man had never though that his life would be like this, he had figured that he would become a Hunter; after all money made the world go round, though he wished it didn’t, not when it related to people’s health; but he never thought that he would learn about _nen_ , as well as meeting his own soulmate, along with his soulmate _paying_ for his schooling, saving him from having to stress about it.

It was one of the main reasons that he kept coming back to join Hisoka at the gym, the man wasn’t as bad as he had thought.

Right now he was watching as Hisoka stretched, showing how flexible he was compared to the younger man, before he realised what had been said.

“Wait, a rematch?”

“Yes.”

“But I… don’t you kill everyone who fights you? I thought that was the whole reason you fought here?” he didn’t understand it, give Hisoka’s nickname that he had heard around the corridors of the tower, not the _magician_ , but the _Grim Reaper._

“There is never a reason to kill someone when they have such _potential_. It’s the same reason I allowed Gon to live, to become _ripened fruit_.” he licked his lips as he spoke, before arching his back in an impossible way that Leorio wasn’t sure _what_ he should be feeling as he looked on, doing the more subdued stretches.

“You want him to get stronger?” he asked, referring to the rematch, he didn’t want to think about Gon fighting this man, he didn’t even know if he was learning nen, or if he knew what it was.

“Of course. At the time we fought he wasn’t close to his true potential.” he stood up straight to look at him. “It does depend if he has reached his potential.”

“ _If_?” he was now curious as to how Hisoka considered his opponents, how he was able to figure them out to be a challenge to him compared to other’s, how he just _knew_ that they would become strong nen users for him to fight in the future. Was he always right with his guesses, or did they backfire?

“If I were to guess, he would be an Enchancer.” he admitted and now Leorio just looked at him.

“What… how can you guess that, you could be wrong.”

“Perhaps, but I have a way of figuring it out. It’s not fool proof of course, but does the job the majority of the time.”

“If he’s an Enchancer… you’re a Transmutter...” he began and spotted that Hisoka picked up his water bottle with his nen, gently swinging it back and forth with his finger.

“And of course I can change...” he brought the bottle up into his hand, a mere swipe changed the words on the display. “anyone can see this, even if they lack the ability to use nen.”

“It’s unlike your Bungee Gum.” Leorio looked at the words that still remained in place with a slight frown on his face. “Is this… Conjuring?”

“Hmm, I can dip into other nen types to either side of my main class, but what I have originally is my most powerful.” he informed him easily with a smile.

“And that means you can’t go from Transmuter to Manipulator.”

“Exactly.” he nodded in agreement. “The more you try to take on the power of the other nen types, the weaker those abilities will be compared to your true class. I stick to being a Transmuter, while dipping into the other classes on either side.”

“So there is a chance that this guy might be able to do the same?”

“Perhaps. His fight against me was what awoke his ability to use nen, and from what I’ve been hearing he’s been interesting to watch.”

“Huh? You mean you _haven’t_ seen him fight?”  
“I doubt he’d use his full ability against those who lack the power.” he shrugged. “This fight will be interesting regardless.”

Leorio just wondered why he was so invested in this man, did he hope he would become a challenge to him, that he potentially _beat him_? The thought was one that he pushed away as his blood ran cold, though the magician smiled at him, a rather charming look on his painted face. “You _can’t_ have him kill you… you said...”

“Worried about me?” he leaned in close, breathing him in while Leorio scoffed and looked away. “Don’t worry about that, I doubt they will be strong enough to kill me.”

“But you _always_ fight to the death, and why wouldn’t he want to kill you in a rematch?” he started to overthink, yet he couldn’t stop himself, this was his _soulmate_ putting his life on the line, _their lives_ on the line. “What even _possessed_ you to agree to this?!” he finally yelled, because everything had been going relatively smoothly, which was different to what normally happened in his life, but Hisoka had just thrown a spanner into it.

“A challenge.”

“And if he wins?” he heard the man scoff. “Am serious Hisoka!”

“He won’t, he’ll just be a challenge.”

There was now a glaze over those amber eyes, and Leorio could tell from their link that he was _excited_ and finding the thought of this upcoming fight a turn on. It wasn’t enough to calm him, in fact it just made him worry even more, and he knew that Hsioka could feel it, yet it seemed that the man was confident in his fighting ability that he would allow a challenger to leave the arena _alive_ to come back and face him again.

“Promise me that you won’t die in this fight.” his voice was calm and even, though his nervous energy flowed through the link and Hisoka felt so clearly the worry he had for him.

It was rather touching, the fact the Leorio wasn’t simply worried about his own personal future, but also for him too.

“I promise.”

“Mean it? Because a fight like this, it’s not worth dying for.” he insisted, though he felt something wash through the link, something he wasn’t used to feeling form anyone.

Reassurance.

“Don’t think that I will die in such a place like this for no reason.” the magician leaned in close and kissed his cheek, the first time that either of them had shown any kind of affection, _stunning_ Leorio that he had been the one to make the first move. “I have bigger plans should I die.”

“Well, that’s far into the future, right? A couple of decades away?” he said shakily, his brain still computing that fact that Hisoka had _kissed his cheek_. Yet he also had things he wanted to accomplish, he was certain that Hisoka did too.

“A decade, further than that however I can’t make any promises.” he kept close, enjoying this moment with him, noticing that the young man appeared to be more at ease with him. “Will you be there to watch?”

“I… won’t I be a distraction? The link...”

“I can block it, and you won’t be close enough to be a distraction either.”

‘ _Don’t yell.’_

Leorio jolted, it had been a while since Hisoka had spoken to him like that, though he knew why he would say that. He was fairly loud after all, if he yelled people would look at him, and anyone with nen would notice the thread that linked him to Hisoka.

His nen teacher had noticed the thread right away just after meeting him, asking him a few personal questions that Leorio was smart enough to avoid, as Hisoka was _incredibly_ private and he wasn’t sure if the older man would appreciate to him admitting who his soulmate actually was. Though that had resulted in him yelling at them, informing him that the information about his soulmate was _private_ , and unless it was affecting his ability to learn nen, there was no need for them to know anything about it. Of course he wondered if any of the pro Hunters during the exam had noticed the thread that connected him to Hisoka, or had they simply ignored it?

“Why do you think people with nen can tell when people are soulmates?” he decided to ask, it was something he had wondered for a while now.

“I don’t believe they can, unless they notice something between the two, like when we communicate telepathically. And even if he _does_ notice it, he wouldn’t be able to act on it.”

Hearing that was a relief, but that also meant a new worry, because should Hisoka’s enemies learn of him having a soulmate, and learning that _he_ was his soulmate, they could simply kill _him_ instead.

“What if...”

“Soulmates are rare, not many nen users would think about looking for a link. It’s not something to be concerned about.”

Brown eyes widened. “So there is a chance that _you_ have killed someone with a soulmate, and not realised it?”

He felt the foreboding through the link and sighed. “Perhaps.”

“How do you know all of this though? There’s not enough books...”

“My parents, they are soulmates, I learned about the concept and what could potentially happen from them, though even they aren’t sure that what happens with them is what happens to every single soulmate.”

“Your… parents?” he repeated, now more focused on that than his information about soulmates. He never though that Hisoka _had_ parents, it just didn’t make sense.

“Did you think I wouldn’t have parents like everyone else?” he asked with an amused smile.

He flushed before admitting sheepishly. “I just… thought that you were summoned here, or something.” he still couldn’t get it through his mind, the man had _parents,_ who _raised_ him? If that was the case, how did he end up like he was? Or were they similar to him?

“Well I shall use that the next time someone asks.” he teased, although he did like the though of people thinking that he had been brought onto this earth instead of being born and raised, it would be amusing to see what people’s reactions to it would be.

“But you do have parents?”

He nodded. “They aren’t conventional parents, but it seems that everyone I have been around don’t have a stereotypical family, so I am not the odd one out in that regard.”

“Huh?”  
“I suppose for you to understand, you would need to meet them. But that’s later.” he closed the matter completely, before they returned to the originally reason they were here, to workout.

Although it really was just Hisoka pushing Leorio to work out harder than he was, getting him to sweat and push him out of his comfort zone, causing the young man to nearly fall on to the floor throughout the workout, though the man allowed him to catch his breath and drink the water, with his filling it up at the water cooler within the gym and handing it to him.

“Drink slowly, you’ll make yourself sick.” he advised him, before moving off the lift the heaviest weights with ease as Leorio watched on from where he was sitting on the floor, never in his wildest _dreams_ would he think of being able to lift something that heavy with ease.

He took slow sips, not wanting to be sick around the man, he didn’t want to find out what kind of bedside manner he would have if he were to be sick. Though as he thought about it, he figured that Hisoka wouldn’t have a bedside manner, he would likely just leave him alone to wallow in misery and he would be out, killing and fighting, or looking for new _fruits_.

“Isn’t your match sold out?” he asked with a frown, remembering that Hisoka’s fights tend to be incredibly popular.

“Do you think that fighters can’t get tickets?”

He caught that lightly mocking look his was giving him while he continued to lift the weights, because _of course_ he had already got him a ticket. He always got him tickets to matches that he felt would be interesting for him to watch, even though _he_ never went with him and he did advise him to avoid the fights below the 200th floor.

Hisoka kept quiet about Killua and Gon, knowing that it would only make the man worry about his young friends, as well as realising that it also meant that Gon would soon fight Hisoka. It was a fight that the magician was excited about, though he already knew that his little apple would need to improve a lot more, he wasn’t ready to face him just yet.

They continued to work out and as they left, after showering of course, it appeared to be Leorio’s favourite thing about working out with him was the shower at the end. As they were about to part ways, Hisoka handed him the ticket for the match, though to his surprise Leorio leaned in and kissed his cheek, though it didn’t have the affect that he was after. Instead of flustering the magician, it was _him_ who became flustered even though he was the one to initiate it.

It never ceased to amaze the magician how amusing it was to have someone like Leorio around, the man was loud and brash, so open with showing his emotions, and yet showing affection like he had with him? He floundered.

Yet Hisoka liked it, being around him made him feel _normal_ , even though he was anything _but_ normal, he had always been regarded as different, even when he did try to fit in with society it just lasted a week. He got bored and decided to simply be himself, although he did tone it down a little bit, he didn’t want to scare people away from him after all, and while he didn’t like being around loud crowds, he still enjoyed interacting with people.

Even with Leorio being loud, brash and never thinking before he acts, Hisoka’s soul was bond to him, to balance himself out, and really he couldn’t think of anyone better for him to be bonded to. Though the real test of their connection was still to come, and he knew it too, but Leorio; who returned to doing the sit-ups; had no idea exactly how reckless his soulmate could be in a fight.


	3. Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hisoka vs Kastro is here, and Leorio is worried.

The day had finally arrived, Hisoka would be fighting Kastro, and as the ginger haired man was preparing to leave the small room before he was due to appear in the Arena when his phone went off. Glancing over he saw the name who was messaging him and he reached down to get a better look at the message as a smile tugged at his lips.

_Am in the stands._

_Good luck._

_Be careful._

_Please._

He didn’t tend to get many messages, and the ones that he did get were for people to ask him to do a mission of sorts, never would _those_ people send a message wishing him luck, those weren’t people who actively _cared_ about him. His family would, he knew they would, and they had sent messages of support before, but now he rarely ever told them about the fights, there was no point, they wouldn’t be able to watch it from where they lived, and it wasn’t like they could afford to travel all the way here either.

Taking a few breaths he sent a quick message back through text, taking that time to ground himself, pushing through their link to remind Leorio that he would be _fine_ , that he needed to _trust_ him not to be killed. He then focused on blocking him out, because his mind needed to be clear for this fight, he had been looking forward to it and he was sure to put on a show for all who came to watch.

Yet as he walked towards the arena; going through the underground tunnel to avoid the audience; he felt Kastro’s aura flickering, he was clearly keeping a lot of that power concealed, but letting a small amount peak out to show Hisoka how he had grown in those years. He should be _excited_ , thrilled at this upcoming match, yet instead he found that was _missing,_ his usual energy that would be coursing through him from the thrill of fighting someone that he expected be close to his own level wasn’t there.

Still he pushed that to the side as he walked out into the bright lights of the arena, breathing slow and deep, smiling over at Kastro and fully aware the Leorio was behind him watching, he could feel the nervous energy, but it was toned down.

The young man watched from the stands, he had seen these fights before, gotten excited over them as many people do, but this was someone that he _knew_. Worse still, this was his _soulmate_.

The first punch was a surprise, Leorio was certain that the man had dodged it, but there was blood trickling down Hisoka’s nose, and then again when Kastro struck out it appeared that he avoided that hit too. But then his soulmate was sent to the floor.

“I advise you to get serious.” Kastro told him. “Or do you want this to be your end?”

Leorio was also wondering what Hisoka was playing at, this didn’t seem like him after all, he wouldn’t simply allow himself to be punched around, would he? As the referee came over to check on him, he looked up with an unnerving grin and Leorio breathed a little bit easier than before.

The man was still full of confidence, which assured him, he figured that perhaps now he would be ready to fight back. Standing up after dusting himself off, the man went on to figure out what Kastro was doing, pointing out that he was there one minute and gone the next. It took him a moment of careful thought – still faster than most people would get during a fight – but he finally got it, and Kastro was more than willing to show him his double, scaring the audience in the process at what he had just done.

Yet instead of Hisoka taking that information on board and coming up with a plan to fight back, he just got hit again, seemingly dodging his attacks until the double hit him, and Leorio wanted to yell at him for being an idiot, for not fighting back when he had an idea of what Kastro was up to, and then? Leorio had never seen the anyone do something _this stupid_ , outside of Gon during the final test at the Hunter Exam.

“Go ahead, take it.” Hisoka told Kastro as he held out his left arm in offering.

He watched on, clench his fists, digging his nails into the palms of his hands and cursed the man, all the while Kastro had moved to seemingly take up the offer.

“I’ll take this one.” The white haired man said, his double appearing behind Hisoka to remove his right arm instead of the one offered to him.

 _Hisoka!_ He cried out loudly in his mind, watching the arm nearly fall to the floor, before his soulmate caught it in his left hand.

 _It’s fine, don’t worry._ His voice came into his mind to assure him, and Leorio realised what he had done, what he trouble he could have caused for Hisoka, before realising that the man had actually spoke to him about his _words_ and not just the emotions running through the link, although he felt like there was a blockage between them, it wasn’t a completely wall however, it felt like he could still get through to him, and he wondered why that was. After all shouldn’t Hisoka just block him out completely for a fight? Particularly since he knew that he would worry about _this_ fight, the one that meant that one of the fighters would die.

Yet how could Leorio _not_ worry? The man only had one arm now and he was standing in the middle of the arena, looking at Kastro as if he still didn’t have a care in the world, his nen barely there to feel, and Leorio’s eyes widened in realisation. Of _course_ Hisoka had a plan, and of course it would be dramatic. How else was the man going to perform before such a vast crowd? He _lived_ for this kind of thing, it was why he was a magician after all.

And he proved that to the audience that too, performing a magic trick before them, still appearing as though he didn’t have a care in the world about how many times Kastro beat him, he still got up. Yet Leorio was certain that the trick was something more, he just couldn’t figure out _what_ it was, but he was certain the man had a plan.

“You must not have heard me, you can take it.” Hisoka taunted Kastro again, offering up his left arm once more.

 _Hisoka… don’t…_ he plead through the link, or he attempted to, but he wasn’t sure if he was getting the hang of it or not.

 _Calm down my little soulmate._ Hisoka comforted him while Kastro came at him with his double, removing his left arm that fell to the floor and the double vanished, _that_ was when Leorio noticed something odd, something that he knew couldn’t be real.

“So you did attack using your double, how interesting.” the man said with a smile on his face. “Had you come at me yourself, I was fully prepared to counter attack.” he brought up his right arm, completely healed, not even a _mark_ on his body to show where it had been cut off. “by using this.”

 _How…_ Leorio was certain there was no way his nen could heal him like that, so how was he able to move so freely with an arm that likely wasn’t attached to anything? Was it his Bungee Gum? Did he actually have complete control his arm by using it like that?

Kastro however just narrowed his eyes at him, knowing that nen had been used, but he wasn’t sure _how_. Then he caught sight of something on Hisoka’s little finger, a thin red thread that connected with someone in the audience, but he never bothered to take a closer look. He didn’t have time for that, he was close to defeating this man, this man who made a mockery of every single fighter he had gone up against, he was going to put him in his place once and for all, to show everyone that Hisoka wasn’t unbeatable.

He moved for a final attack, he had injured Hisoka many times throughout the match, along with the blood loss that he _must_ be feeling due to losing his arms, he would be slower now and it had been easy enough to hit him with his double, even when the man was aware of his ability. Yet the magician avoided the attack with ease, he dodged each blow as one Kastro attacked him while the other was preparing to join in to the fray, but those golden eyes just _looked_ at him.

He _knew_.

“Doubles are made, from the image that you had in mind. So they tend to be pristine, which means that they don’t pick up the dirt and grime during combat.” it was an obvious taunt, pointing out a basic flaw in his attack, one that he wouldn’t have seen from the other opponents he fought previously. Sure they had been strong, but they weren’t even _close_ to being on the same level as Hisoka, had he done so, he might have realised that flaw.

The double disappeared as the man’s anger grew, leading him to use the Tiger Bite Fist on Hisoka once more, or at least attempted to.

 _Now_ it was Hisoka’s turn to actually fight back, with his left hand that had been laying on the floor of the arena flying at Kastro who never saw it coming.

“You’ll be stunned for a minute or two, and that means...” he looked over at the man who was swaying, while the playing cards that had been ignored since the magician had performed a magic trick flew straight at Kastro.

Leorio felt his heart race as he watched, because possibly this could mean that… he had to create his double to protect him.

“You can’t make another double.” Hisoka commented as his cards sliced into the man, a grin on his face while Kastro was stunned at being defeated in such a way.

The crowd roared in delight as the man fell to the ground, with no sign of getting up as the referee came over to check him, sending a quick signal to the announcer as to who had won this match.

Leorio let out a sigh, slumping against his chair, unable to believe what he had just witnessed. He felt like he had aged ten years, and considering everyone though he was older than he actually was, that wasn’t doing him _any_ favours. Yet he was calm now, even as the swarm of people moved past him to leave the arena, while the ambulance crew went over to try to revive Kastro, but Leorio already knew the truth. It was a death match after all, and where those cards had landed? Kastro had probably been dead since he hit the floor.

Yet for the relief he felt for knowing his soulmate had survived, would live for another day, there was the issue of him lacking his _arms_. He was sure it had been nen to attach his right arm again, likely he used his Texture Surprise on it too, but why hadn’t _he_ received any help?

 _I’m fine_. Came his voice, causing Leorio to flinch, he hadn’t been expecting Hisoka to speak to him, but luckily for him the crowds were already gathered at the exits, so no one noticed.

Hisoka meanwhile was walking down the underground passage where he spotted a nonchalant figure, leaning against the wall, her messy pink hair was tied back and those blue eyes gazed over at him. _I will see you in an hour._ He wondered if the only reason Leorio was able to speak into his mind was because of his heightened emotions. It certainly was something to explore, but that would be for another fight.

“Well, show me your injuries.” she said and he led the way to his room, his left arm still comfortable held like a clutch purse.

He was pleased that Machi had agreed to visit him, though he hadn’t expected this to be the final outcome, but given her _talents_ he didn’t mind. Of course having Machi heal him came at a price, a steep one; at least she thought it would be steep for someone like _him_ , she thought she knew just how much he made, and would go out of her way to have him spend more cash on her ability to heal him than he would at a nen hospital. _She_ got to pick the price, and no objection would be made on Hisoka’s end.

Through his link he could feel how uncertain Leorio was at his answer.

 _I’ll be fine, a doctor will be looking me over. I’ll be as good as new when you see me._ He assured him as they went into his room and once he sat down he rested his right arm on the table, releasing his nen that had been keeping it completely attached to his body.

She looked him over, unable to believe that he had just done that, that he had been so _reckless_ with his life. Though she had dealt with his injuries before, they were never this extreme, he’d never lost a limb before, never mind _two_.

He took a deep breath, as he was told to turn off his aura, his soulmate was calmer now than he had been previously, the nervousness that had flowed down the link gone, it was just worry and concern that flowed through and he blocked him out completely. At least it felt like he had, it was like he had created a dam in their link, one that he was aware could burst over in time, but he didn’t want his soulmate to know what he was feeling right now. Yet given that he had _still_ felt his worry throughout the match? Perhaps he needed to be careful with how often he created this block between them.

He turned to the side, after all watching Machi work was always a treat as far as he was concerned. She had honed her talents on healing, fixing any injury regardless of how complex. Her hand held one arm as she began to stitch everything together, linking nerves, muscles, bone and blood vessels back together again and then she moved to the other arm, which she had _him_ hold in place. It was so starkly different to how she used her nen in fights, she could use her threads to kill, to _main_ , how could he _not_ wish to see it when it was so diverse?

Machi was commonly regarded as being cool; though some had said cold, but he disagreed; she was more connected to her head than her heart. She was a woman who was _more_ than comfortable and capable to put someone in their place if they put a _foot_ out of line. He had met _many_ of her sort before; how could he not given how he had been raised?; so it had been easy and rather amusing to play with her, even though he was completely aware that she also had his measure too; or at least she felt like she had his full measure; given that he was at complete ease around her, she wasn’t the type to betray someone, unless he were to do something unforgivable in. Then she would simply deal with him herself, not wanting anyone else brought into it.

“I do enjoy seeing your nen stitches in action, perhaps I allowed myself to be injured on purpose.” he commented once she had finished connecting both arms together, though she just rolled her eyes at him.

“And you can see to the rest of your injuries.” she said as she put her pin cushion into her bag.

“Your bedside manner could be better.”

“Am just here to deal with the main injuries, the rest isn’t my concern.” was her swift response. “That’s 25 million for the left and 50 million for the right, now.” she held out her hand for the money while he looked at her.

“I will sent it straight to your account.”

With a shrug she picked up her bag and had it rest against her shoulder before heading to the door. “Oh I almost forgot.” she looked over at him and he tilted his head at her. “The dates have been changed, all members are to meet at Yorknew City on August the 31st, and not just those who have nothing better to do.” she gave him a pointed look.

One that he ignored. “Will the boss be coming?” he kept his tone even, after all many of the group wished to see the boss, it had been sometime since any of them had seen him, and he knew he only called a select few people to spread the word about his wishes.

“Should be. This could be our biggest mission yet. So know if you blow this off, the boss might hunt you down himself.” she warned him.

“Hmm, well that is scary. And the money will be in your account in the next hour.” he assured her, standing up and headed to the bathroom as she left, closing the door quietly behind herself before walking down the hallway, going towards the elevators that would take her to the main entrance way instead of the way she had snuck in before.

She didn’t pay any attention to the suited man who was walking rather quickly up the hallway, he kept to the left, staying out of her as he anxiously made his way towards a fighters room, but she never cared to look which room he was going to, just assuming that he was an offical of some sort. She never cared to learn much about how things worked in Heavens Arena, though Hisoka had offered to explain a few things, to make it easier for her to see him when he requested her assistance for his injuries. She had of course refused, it was fun to sneak into a building like this, and although she could always sneak out, but she enjoyed leaving the tower knowing that no one knew just how she got in.

She never saw the tall man using a key to get into Hisoka’s room, her thoughts focused on how the man just didn’t fit in with the group, how he cared only for _himself_ , she was certain he _never_ could care for anyone else either.

“Hisoka?!” Leorio called out once he closed the door, though the shower was running and he knew that the man was here and all right.

With a sigh he walked further into the room, sitting on one of the dinning chairs and looked out the window, relieved that his soulmate was actually all right. He had been concerned that their bond could mean that they would be able to feel each other’s physical pain once they were fully linked with each other, but he never felt a thing during the whole fight. Though he suspected that Hisoka might know about that side effect, what with his parents being soulmates and everything, and the man likely would have told him about it, instead of giving him a ticket to the match.

It seemed their link was merely emotional based than anything, and he was happy and secure with that knowledge too, but he hadn’t felt anything coming from Hisoka’s side of things, even when he lost his arm there had been _nothing_ , he had been completely blank.

“Idiot.” he muttered as he thought how the magician simply offered up his other arm to be cut off.

He slumped down in the chair until he heard a loud slam coming from the bathroom, then he sprang up, moving quickly towards the smaller room only for the door to open and reveal the ginger haired man walk out of the steam filled room with a towel around his waist and another towel that he was using to wrap around his head.

Though Leorio had seen him like this plenty of times before, and many more _without_ a towel too, but this time it was different, he hadn’t been given permission to come into his room, and he _had_ arrived early too. Perhaps Hisoka wanted to be alone to decompress after the fight and doctors visit.

“Sorry I...” he turned around and prepared to leave.

It was just utterly amusing to Hisoka, he could _feel_ the man’s embarrassment through the link so clearly, he stuck some Bungee Gum to his waist and simply pulled him back, once he was close enough he wrapped his newly attached arms around him and began to nuzzle his neck, as though _he_ was the one who needed the affection of the older man.

“Was my soulmate concerned for my well being?” he teased.

“Wh… _of course I was!”_ he yelled at him, before realising that his arms were around him, and more importantly _attached_ to his body again, with no scaring. “How are your arms… healed?” Leorio began to trace near the area where they had been cut and frowned, he could _feel_ the scaring but he couldn’t see it, it was like it had never happened.

“Magic.” was the cheerful reply.

“Bull, now tell me the truth!” he attempted to get out of his hold, but the magician wasn’t willing to let him go just yet, easily pulling him back and breathing in his scent.

“Oh, I just saw a doctor who used nen to heal me.” it was a half truth, Machi _had_ used nen to heal him after all, she just wasn’t a registered doctor.

“Huh? Really? I had no idea that there were nen doctors here.”

“I didn’t want you to bother them.” he lied, though Leorio could feel through their link that something didn’t add up, but he didn’t know what it was.

All he could guess was that what Hisoka told him might not be the full truth, yet he didn’t know _why_ the man would lie about this.

“But you’re okay?” he asked, pushing away those thoughts and just focusing on him, being here with him and more importantly, he was _alive_.

“Of course.” he assured him, leaning down to nibble at his neck, causing the younger man to whine and he chuckled. “How _cute_.”

“You… you’re moving too fast for me.” he admitted softly, and hearing those words Hisoka let him go.

The _tone_ was enough to have him let go, he didn’t want the young man to be uncomfortable, if he pushed too hard and fast, their link would need to be rebuilt, and he didn’t want to go to all that effort again. He liked what he currently had with the man after all, even though there will likely be tension in the next few weeks.

“Dinner?” he changed the subject swiftly, making not another comment on Leorio’s need to go slow. How could he? A soulmate was to listen to their partner’s wishes and _respect_ those wishes.

“Oh, sure.” Leorio was just relieved that Hisoka was alive, and connected to him.

Yet as much as the match had been stressful to watch, he had gotten to see just the kind of fighter Hisoka was. This was a man that was _completely_ confident in his abilities, he was able to come up with an idea to use against Kastro in such a short space of time, it was amazing to see, that he had worked from a quick plan to actually executing it. To see him create such a trap against another fighter, who had never thought to take a quick step back and consider using the more basic nen techniques to see through his plan. Though he didn’t want to think about it any more, he didn’t want to think about how his heart had been in his mouth throughout the fight, just how worried he had been for him.

“You’re thinking so loudly.” Hisoka chuckled and moved to get dressed in more casual clothes.

“Oh right, sorry.” Leorio looked away from him, even though they had both changed in front of each other before, it was different when it was only one of them who was getting changed.

“Is something on your mind?”

“No, no.”

He chuckled as he zipped up his jeans and put on a light sweater before putting on his shoes. “Am your soulmate, you can’t hide these things from me.”

There was a sigh and Leorio sat down on the dinning chair again. “I just don’t know how you did it. Defeat Kastro. I _know_ how you did it but I...” he shook his head. “Never mind, I don’t want to think about this any more.” he rubbed his face roughly, because he wanted the fight to be out of his head, he wanted to forget that he had though that Hisoka was going to die, which in turn meant that _he_ would die, even though the man swore that he would live.

“Good.” was all he said, not questioning him any more as he grabbed his wallet and phone, though he quickly unlocked it and began to type away quickly before putting it away. “Where shall we go?” he lead the way out of his room.

Leorio was rather pleased that he wasn’t going to tease him for the thoughts that had been roaming around his head. He still wasn’t sure what to make of this man, his soulmate. He was still such a mystery, even though he; as his soulmate; was meant to be balancing him out, to have him _care_ more about people and situations, but it didn’t seem to be working.

Of course the two men weren’t around each other like they had in the beginning when they had left the Hunter Exam, Leorio was busy learning nen and studying for school, though he felt like he was letting his soulmate down by not being around him often. After all the man was now _paying_ for his expenses, even where he was living was being paid by Hisoka, just so that he would have to stress about that area of his life either. The man was going out of his way to give him a stress free life, and how was Leorio repaying him for this?

He stopped himself on that thought. What Hisoka was doing _for_ him was being _kind_ , he was showing his kindness and being caring towards _him_. That could be something to work on.

“You are so loud.” the magician glanced over at him as they made their way into the streets, with him still leading the way rather than asking Leorio where he’d prefer to go. He knew the area well, he knew what restaurant would have the best food without being overly expensive, so that Leorio could go and bring his friends if he wished.

Brown eyes looked over at him, and then at the people walking by, there were a few faces that he recognised, faces that had been in the arena and seated near him, faces that screamed for Hisoka’s death and then changed for Kastro’s death. _None_ of them even glanced at Hisoka’s way, proving that the lack of make up, lack of hair gel, and his clothes being toned down was enough of a disguise to have people leave him be.

“Wha...”

“You are thinking too loud. Our link isn’t completely shut off.” he admitted with a slight frown, because how had the dam begun to crumble _now_? It should have lasted a little bit longer than that, it seemed that he had managed to keep it up for Machi to attend to him and then it just fell apart.

“Oh, sorry.” was Leorio could think of saying.

“Just tell me what is worrying you, perhaps I can assist.”

_The only thing you’d assist with is killing someone._

There was a slight smile on the magician’s lips. “Oh?”

“What?” he blinked, face starting to flush.

_You just used the link to talk to me._

_No I…_

“Agh...” the young man took a few steps back, almost bumping into someone but he managed to avoid them.

“You also did it during the match too. Am proud that you figured it out so quickly.”

“You don’t have to be sarcastic about it.” he growled at him, while the magician merely tilted his head at him in confusion.

“Sarcastic? Is _that_ what you feel through our link?” he asked curiously and Leorio paused, taking his time to feel the link, but there wasn’t any feeling of him mocking him, not a _shred_ of it lingered, but he had assumed he had because it was always easier to assume the worst. “Oh you… meant it. Sorry.”

“Perhaps you should talk to me about this complex you seem to have. You do like to think the worst of me.”

“No I...”

“You also assumed that I was going to be killed by Kastro too, and that I wouldn’t be seen by a medical professional.” he pointed out before he could argue back.

Leorio sighed and looked over at him. “I’ll tell you when we’re inside.”

He tended to keep his childhood to himself, only telling a select few about his reasoning for going into medicine, for becoming a doctor, but he never went out of his way to tell those people about the full extent of his childhood. How no one had believed in him, how they all thought he would never make his way to the city, how he wasn’t _smart_ enough to become a doctor, never mind earn enough money to cover the expense of schooling, as well as being able to make his practice cheap or free for the poor? They had mocked him for such naive ideals.

He knew he should have believe in Hisoka, the man was his soulmate after all, but when he had see how Kastro had fought, and he had such a small amount of knowledge regarding how the magician fought, he simply assumed the worst.

As he let it all out, once they were seated, and throughout the course of the meal, he actually found it relieving to get it all out there for once, to let someone finally know where he was coming from, to have him understand _why_ he thought the worst. He hadn’t expected was at the end of the meal, the magician would pull him over to his side of the booth and just _hold him_. He even stroked the back of his neck, it was such a soothing touch that the younger man had to bite his lip to stop himself from crying, to hold himself from weeping into his arms because he felt like the man would tease him for that.

“Let’s get a drink, hmm? I think you could use it.” he lead him out of the restaurant after paying the bill, then walked towards a bar not far from there, it was small, appearing empty but Leorio frowned and looked over at him.

“Am underage.”

“You think the people here care about that?” Hisoka asked with a slight chuckle, though the look that the young man gave him was enough to have him refrain from teasing him. “Let me show you a little glimpse of my side of life.”

The bar had given Leorio the impression that this was an old man’s bar, it certainly didn’t suit a man like Hisoka, and that was when he learned his mistake as they went through a hidden door at the side, after the magician gave a nod to the bar man, who smiled and tilted his head to go through. They came into a club, a club that was clearly for people who didn’t fit into societies mould of _normal_ , a club that was open and free, where people could wear whatever they wanted _how_ they wanted.

“What is…?”

“Some would call it a gay club.” he spoke into his ear as the music was so loud, before taking his hand and leading him to a quiet corner where they could watch and be left alone. “This is reminiscent of my own childhood.”

Leorio looked at him curiously. “A gay club?”

“Oh not exactly, the club I was raised near was more… entertaining. There were shows on every night, sometimes in the afternoon too. It isn’t just for gay men of course, anyone under a label that isn’t _straight_ or heteronormative were welcomed.” he paused for a moment, catching the stunned look on Leorio’s face. “Perhaps my childhood was more unique than other’s, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Leorio smiled at him because he _felt_ a warmth flow through him, a warmth that came through their link, which had begun to trickle down as soon as Hisoka began to speak about him home, his _family._

“Maybe one day I can meet them?” he asked carefully, after all they haven’t even known each other for a year, they might be soulmates, but they were still strangers.

“I know that they would _love_ to meet you. They had always hoped that someone they knew would also have a soulmate.”

“And it turned out it was their son who found one.” He moved in close and kissed his cheek before whispering into his ear. “Thank you.”


	4. Meditation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hisoka has been keeping a secret from Leorio, and it's about to come out, worst of all it's in regards to Gon. That certainly isn't going to help them come together as soulmates.

It was another intense gym session with Hisoka, though it was getting a bit easier over time, Leorio still found his whole body _aching_ after each meet-up. Though this time it was different, this time Hsioka stopped the session, stepping towards Leorio and put the back of his hand on his calves, causing his younger soulmate to jump and scowl at him, not that the man paid any attention, though he felt the annoyance through their link.

“Go to the baths.” he dismissed him, and even though Leorio wanted to argue he was aware that he could do anything more, his body ached and relaxing in the baths sounded _perfect_.

He had expected the magician to join him however, he had kept hoping to see him come through the curtains but he never did. He simply heard the shower go on, and then off, before hearing the man’s phone ring in the changing room and he answered it before his voice disappeared, a big clue that he had probably returned to the main gym.

With a sigh he got out of the baths, heading to the changing rooms to get dressed. As he did so he _felt_ the aura that his soulmate was producing, it was one that any other nen user would be weary of, and those without any nen training would avoid without thinking about why.

As he walked into the room he heard him say; “Okay then.” before he hung up.

There was excitement coming through the link although Leorio wasn’t sure _why_ , who would have Hisoka feeling that excited after all? He couldn’t even remember him saying anything about wanting to fight someone, or indeed anyone that showed interest in fighting him, but what he felt through the link was hard to ignore.

“Are you going to get dressed? Am pretty sure there are other fighters who want to use the gym too.” he finally spoke up, his tone teasing, as he wondered _why_ the man liked to use his aura to keep people out of the gym while he was using it, it seemed it didn’t matter if he was with Leorio or on his own, he would keep people away.

“Hm? Oh...” he walked into the changing room, which always made Leorio feel rather envious of him, the man was just walking around _naked_ without a care in the world, yet he had seen early on that the man didn’t care if he was seen naked, he was completely at ease with his body regardless of the state it was viewed in.

“What was the call about?” he decided to ask, letting him have his privacy.

“Just an upcoming fight.” he informed him, and Leorio felt a tingle through their link again, there was something _more_ to this fight, he was sure of it.

Yet after the fight against Kastro, he was certain that he didn’t want to know much about the fights Hisoka would be having. It had been stressful enough watching it, even though he knew the risks, his soulmate had been rather confident in his abilities, but the match itself?

“Have you agreed to a date?” he was curious as to how the procedure would go, he hadn’t been present for Kastro’s arrangement after all.

“In a few weeks, July the 10th.” he informed him, but he kept the details to himself, knowing how he felt about these matches now.

“And you’ll be careful?”  
He chuckled. “ _Of course._ It will certainly be an interesting battle.” his aura began to grow again, making Leorio take a step back even though it wasn’t directed _at_ him.

Just because they were soulmates didn’t mean that they were immune to each other’s aura’s, and in his case, he wasn’t immune to Hisoka’s rather _deadly_ aura, he knew how hard the man trained, he knew just how powerful he was. He was however _grateful_ that none of his friends were around to deal with the man, because he was certain that if they had been here they would end up fighting him.

“Something wrong?” the magician asked as he came out, putting on his crop top to stand next to him.

“July the 10th huh? I definitely won’t be here for that match.” he said with relief clear in his voice, he had nen training once a week, and that was always the day it landed on, at least him saying that would mean that Hisoka _wouldn’t_ get him a ticket.

“You are relieved.” he tilted his head at him, a smile on his face. “I wouldn’t have expected you to be there, you didn’t seem fond of the last match.” he told him.

“Well I also have nen training that day.” it was a weak excuse, depending the time of the match he could make it to his training before the match, and his teacher was more than happy to reschedule if it was something to do with his soulmate, but he wanted to focus on his nen, he wanted to see what his abilities could be.

If Hisoka was aware that it was a flimsy excuse he didn’t let on. “Good, I need for you to become stronger, so that one day you can actually _fight me_.”

Now he saw those golden eyes practically _glowing_ at the thought of them fighting and he took a few steps back. “Wh… _am not fighting you!”_ he exclaimed, because he wasn’t crazy enough to do such a thing even if he did become competent with nen.

There was also the fact that they were soulmates, Hisoka _couldn’t_ fight him to the death, or he would die too. Leorio was well aware as to how the magician fought, he knew that regardless of how often he trained he wouldn’t be able to reach the heights the Hisoka was at now, so why would the man even consider it?

“Why not? It would just be for _fun_.” he gave him a rather flirtatious smile, one that helped to calm the young man, feeling the man trying to sooth him through their link.

“Because it will take me _years_ to get to the level that you are at currently, and in that time? You’ll be even further ahead of me. You don’t stop training, and I’ve seen how your mind quickly comes up with these plans in the middle of a fight...” he paused, frowning as he though about it, and wishing that he hadn’t but _he_ had brought it up. “Like your fight with Kastro, it was _reckless_ , in fact it was _stupid_ but you were still able to figure out everything and you came up with a plan in seconds to bring him down. I… don’t have that kind of mind set, so if we were to ever fight? I know that you’d win without even needing to compare out physical strengths, because of how fast you think. There’s no reason for you to fight me.”

As he spoke Hisoka just looked at him, his pale cheeks beginning to flush at the praise the man was giving him, feeling the truthfulness in the words he was speaking, that he believed every single word he was saying, that he was _resigned_ to being the weaker of the two of them, and even though he would still train, he would continue to learn nen. He had no desire at all to fight him, which was disappointing to a man like himself, who _loved_ fighting, and who wanted to see his abilities in action and how adaptable they would be, but he felt such _warmth_ flowing through the link as the man smiled at him.

“So you should look for someone else to fight, because I _refuse_ to fight you.” he paused for a moment, frowning and then looked him in the eye. “But I _will_ fight you should you die, got it?”  
He closed the gap between them, pressing his forehead against Leorio’s, though he felt that the young man was a bit spooked by his action, he remained where he was, unable to feel any malice from the link and he took a deep breath at the same time as Hisoka, and when they breathed out, the older man began to caress his cheeks with his thumbs.

“You might need to wait a while before I die in a fight.” he assured him softly.

“I should think so.” he was tempted to do the same thing, but the man had his make-up on, he wasn’t willing to smudge it, so instead he placed his hands on top of Hisoka’s, feeling the connection between them and how content they both were in this moment, in a way he hadn’t felt before.

It did make Leorio wonder if this was something that the magician’s parents had done, that he picked it up from them, or if this was simply something the _he_ wanted to do.

Not that the reason for it mattered, he felt _safe_ , comfortable in this moment, and then the door to the gym screeched open and he abruptly pulled away, the connection between them was broken, but the bond they shared had become _stronger_.

At least from what Hisoka could tell, it felt like their link became stronger with every connection they made, physical or otherwise. He lead the way out of the gym, ignoring the other fighters with ease, as they took a step or two away from him, though throwing some dirty looks at the younger man who was essentially in his shadow, not that they would _dare_ do anything to him, Hisoka wasn’t someone you wanted to upset, even if you did desire a fight with him.

Leorio went to the elevator, to go back home to study, once the doors shut the magician sighed as he went back to his room, knowing that things were going to come to a head with his soulmate soon, but his desire to fight Gon, to see _exactly_ how well the boy had improved in terms of strength, skill and nen over rode all of that.

Right now he needed to be careful, Leorio couldn’t know about his trip to Yorknew City either, after all he was going to meet Kurapika there. Yet the risky part out of all of this was his fight against Gon, it wasn’t simply the fight he was keeping from him; his soulmate couldn’t be angry with him respecting his wishes to not know who he was fighting; but the fact that he had kept quiet about Gon _and_ Killua being in the tower, not telling the man that his friends were also here.

He was certain the he could keep him in the dark, and if not? Well he could deal with the consequences of his actions, so long as he got to fight Gon, that was all that mattered.

As Leorio expected, he was at his nen teachers apartment on the 10th July, still going through the basics and still finding meditation _incredibly_ difficult to do, he just couldn’t shut his brain off, and tried to do the other tasks that his nen teacher suggested, but nothing worked, so she against pushed him to focus on meditation, concluding that he needed to focus on his mind, to calm himself down before he could do anything else.

Again he struggled, grunting in annoyance as he opened his eyes. “I just _can’t_ stop thinking, this is impossible!”

The older woman glanced over at him, chuckling at his behaviour. “You’re not supposed to _stop_ thinking.”  
Brown eyes widened as he stared at her in disbelief. “What? But you always said to _clear your mind_! What do you mean am not meant to stop thinking?”

She laughed again, shaking her head at him. “There is no way that _you_ , or anyone else for that matter, could simply empty your mind of all thoughts. You can have your thoughts roaming around you mind, you are just not the interact with them, and if you do? You just push them away gently.” she paused for a moment, noticing that he still didn’t understand. “If you were to see a leaf in a body of water, you wouldn’t pick it out of the water, you would let it continue it’s journey, you wouldn’t get involved with it. It’s the same for meditation, you can look at the thoughts, but you don’t _engage_ with them. It’s way so many beginners focus on their breathing, it helps to keep them focused on one thing without having their thoughts pull them away.”

“Oh, I see.” he nodded, realising that it was similar to how Hisoka had described it to him, though the man had made it more about fighting and Leorio had simply _panicked_ at that, but this way seemed a lot more realistic. “Wait, why didn’t you tell me this to begin with?!” he exclaimed and she smiled.

“Because it’s more amusing to see if my students will figure it out on their own, or if I need to step in and clarify it for them.”

He scowled. “Well you don’t have to call me stupid.” he grumbled, feeling rather defensive now, and fully aware that it was going to be harder to get into that meditative state.

“ _I_ never called you stupid, you just insinuated that you were.” she corrected him, and then moved on before he could blow up at her again. “The way the world works, it demands that you are _constantly_ thinking about the next thing that is going to happen, for you to focus solely on the future, so much so that you forget to spend any time in the _present._ Meditation allows you to breathe, to simply be in the here and now. Which will also aid you with your nen.” she stood up straight. “Now, centre yourself, focus on your breath, and continue to do so for the next… two hours.”

“And then?” he asked curiously, unaware that he was doing exactly what she was trying to get him _not_ to do.

“We shall see.” she said, leaving him in the small room.

He sighed, shaking himself before sitting up, crossing his legs and taking a breath, trying to return to that head space again, to slow his thoughts down. Yet his mind wandered, as he began to think about how Gon, Killua and Kurapika were doing, he then wondered what Hisoka was up to, and how he was preparing for his upcoming fight later on in the day.

‘ _Focus on your breath little soulmate.’_

He scoffed, frowning. ‘ _Am trying to, I… just… go away.’_

‘ _You are so loud today, has your teacher been riling you up?’_ he teased him.

‘ _No, she was… talking sense.’_

‘ _Good, she always does. Just not everyone listens.’_ he said as Leorio shifted once again, trying to get more comfortable since he would be doing this for the next two hours. _‘You do realise you don’t need to sit up to meditate? Not everyone finds it comfortable doing it like that.’_

‘ _You keep interfering and am going to tell her.’_

He heard the magician chuckle down the link. _‘Not if am talking sense, you won’t get far sitting like that. Lie down, it will help.’_

‘ _But...’_

‘ _She has been doing this for years, you are still learning, and… you aren’t that flexible.’_

It was just the truth and yet it still got under his skin. _‘Hey...’_

‘ _Shhh, calm down. Now,_ breathe _, and don’t worry about the other’s, am sure they are all doing fine.’_

All he could do was nod, before focusing on his breathing again, he knew the magician was gone, the wall between them was back up again, which he figured that man had done so that he wouldn’t be distracted when he was fighting.

He was able to calm his mind, allowing his thoughts to flow over him, although he did have a few mishaps before pushing away the thoughts gently and focus on his breathing again.

Then something changed, something felt _off_ , there were feelings that came over him, though they weren’t intense, they were like bubbles swirling around him, trying to distract him while he was focusing on his breathe, until it was no longer bubble like emotions coming around him, it was _waves_ of joy and excitement, of a thrill that he had never experienced before, and he realised that this was all coming from _Hisoka_.

It felt completely different to the fight he had against Kastro, he had been excited but it was clearly diluted, tame when compared to _this_ , Leorio felt like he was actually going through the emotions instead of just observing them, and he tried to get back to the head space that he had been in previously, but it was impossible.

Now he was wondering who he was fighting, if maybe he _should_ have asked him who he would be up against for his match.

‘ _Good boy.’_

He froze when he heard that, barely able to breath as a wave of excitement came over him again, before he suddenly found himself inside Hisoka, seeing through his eyes, seeing what he was doing and _who_ he was up against. He gasped as his soulmate easily kicked a large slab of concrete off the arena floor, sending it towards the other fighter.

The other fighter, with hazel eyes, dark hair and familiar green clothing.

‘ _Hisoka...’_ he began, his voice failing him as he realised _this_ was who he was excited to be fighting.

‘ _Hmm, oh, I suppose I got a little bit too excited.’_ he said with obvious humour in his tone. _‘Out Leorio.’_

He wasn’t sure what happened, but he was suddenly pushed out of his mind, thrown out in fact and he sat up on the floor of the room, shivering at what he had felt, at how _cold_ Hisoka had spoken to him, how _uncaring_ he was at how he was feeling in that moment.

Closing his eyes, he saw the look on Gon’s face, though he had clearly been punched a few times, the determination was obvious in those eyes, but he remembered the feeling that had flown through the link he had with Hisoka. It was a stark reminder that the man was a _killer_ , that he was happy to kill anyone who got in his way, as he had seen for himself during the Hunter Exam.

There were waves of joy that managed to filter through the links wall, clearly some cracks had been made, but it felt as sturdy as it had been before something changed. A large door had appeared and he was suddenly forced through with being able to resit.

“ _I won’t fight you here again. I will face you outside once you reach your full potential, where there are no rules for us to hold back, and it will be to the death.”_

Hearing him say that, and seeing how Gon looked at him, battered and bruised, defeated but still determined to face him, it made Leorio’s blood run cold.

‘ _I didn’t kill him.’_ Hisoka told him, feeling him on his side of the wall.

‘ _But you’re planning to.’_ He snapped back, finally returned to his side of the link again, biting his lip.

‘ _Of course, he’s such potential. It will be a few years before he is fully ripened...’_

‘ _You promised me a decade!’_ he exclaimed, angry at so many things.

How this man had hidden the fact that he would be fighting Gon, how Gon actually _agreed_ to the fight, the fact that the man was wanting to fight him _again_.

‘ _Things change.’_

Leorio only growled in frustration and focused on shutting down their link, just in time for his teacher who returned to the room, feeling the anger and frustration that was in the air, and knowing that he wouldn’t be able to continue his training when he was feeling like this.

“Go home Mr Paldiknight.”

“Huh? But...” he began to argue, even though his eyes were bloodshot, he wanted to cry and just let out all his frustrations, but he wouldn’t because she didn’t know anything about what he was going through.  
“You can’t learn nen while in such a state, now go home, _rest_. I will see you again next week. And for your homework, work on focusing on your breath.”

“I...” he knew there was no point in arguing with her, the decision was final, so he left and cursed Hisoka the whole time he was leaving.

Once he was outside, the cooler air calmed him and he sent Gon a quick message, asking how he was, he wasn’t surprised that he got a quick reply, and he arranged to meet the boy the next day. He wanted to see what had been going through his head, how long he had been in the city, what his plans were now, just _everything_ he could possibly know, because he had a bad feeling that perhaps Hisoka knew more than he let on.

When he received a message from the magician, he ignored it, even when he felt him through their link he never lowered the wall on his side, then he felt a soft knock on the wall.

‘ _You can’t keep your distance from me for long.’_ he heard him say, his voice muffled.

He looked at the wall, and carefully he began to open the wall up, little by little but the man was gone. The wall returned to it’s original state, although it was reinforced without Leorio realising that he was doing it, and once he was home, he collapsed onto his bed, hoping that tomorrow he would have a better understanding as to what had Gon been thinking, and _maybe_ he would feel up to speaking to Hisoka too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!   
> Just like to say thank you to all who are commenting and sending kudos, it's very much appreciate.  
> For anyone who is curious about my basic plans on what I am writing - this fic or even others regarding HisoLeo, I am on Twitter @tale_peach


	5. Break-Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leorio meets up with Gon, and the young boy proves that he might seem like a child, but he knows things that most adults wouldn't realise. Now it's just a choice that Leorio needs to make, can he even trust Hisoka?

Standing in the shade of a tree he caught sight of the young boy, he was on his own, though he had learned through their messages that Killua had been with him this whole time. That was to be expected really, the two had become fast friends in such a short amount of time during the Hunter Exam.

The boy ran up to him, a wide smile on his face, the bruising he had received during his fight was barely noticeable, but still Leorio felt a twinge of guilt inside him. Guilt at not being aware of just who Hisoka was, of not taking a closer look at what the man had felt towards the upcoming fight, because maybe if he had realised something was off, he could have made the man not fight Gon. Of course there was also the issue that he might have to be resigned to the fact that Hisoka would have fought him regardless what his soulmate asked of him.

“Hey Gon, how’s it been?” he asked cheerfully, not wanting the boy to know that he was rattled about the fight, he was certain he didn’t even realise that he knew about the fight.

“Fine, how long have you been here for? Have you been to Heavens Arena? It’s an _amazing_ place for fighters!” he said with such enthusiasm that the young man wasn’t sure _how_ to answer such a question.

And then he remembered a little nugget of information that he had received from Hisoka about the tower, when they had started to work out at the gym.

“ _To reach the 200 th floor you have to have fought in every other floor, in the process you’ll earn money from every win. And if you reach the floor, not knowing nen? One of the fighters will initiate it, that is they will force the nen out of you. It’s easier for you to learn nen before you ever reach that floor.”_

“And how has it been?” he asked, which lead to Gon explaining the fights that he and Killua have been part of, before he paused about the 200th floor.

“Well, the 200th floor is a bit different. We had to learn about nen, which we did, but Hisoka was there waiting for us, I guess it was him testing to see if we knew enough about nen to get through his aura.”

“I see.” Leorio said softly, paling at the mention that Hisoka had been completely aware that Gon and Killua were in the tower, had been working their way up, and yet he had said _nothing_ to him about it.

“It was pretty exciting. Killua had already reached the 199th floor when he was a kid, so we had a time limit. Well I guess _he_ had a time limit, but am not going to leave him behind. So we got an induction to nen by Mr Wing, who agreed to teacher us all about the basics of nen properly. We managed to come back and go through Hisoka’s aura challenge without any problems!” he said cheerfully, pausing to look at him. “Are you all right? Maybe we should go and get something to eat, am kinda hungry.”

“Yea, we should.” he agreed, even though he didn’t feel like he could stomach anything, now that he was aware that Hisoka kept this all from him.

Whatever compassion that Hisoka was meant to be picking up from him, or whatever he was meant to gain from his soulmate, it wasn’t working. If Leorio was meant to be making him more caring, then clearly something was missing in their link, and he wasn’t sure what that could be. Was it because he was relying more on Hisoka than the man was on him?

“Oh, I noticed that you have a red thread on your finger, that wasn’t there before was it?” Gon asked curiously, as they made their way to a large out-door cafe and sat down at one of the tables.

Now the young man tensed up, but he decided to play dumb, just to figure out what Gon could actually see. “What do you mean?”  
“On your hand, there’s a thread, I’ve never seen it before...” he trailed off, frowning as he thought over all the times he had been around Leorio, before pausing for a moment. “Granny used to tell me something called soulmates, she said that they would be connected by red thread, the more vibrant the thread, the stronger the link they have, and your thread seems to be pretty bright.”

Brown eyes blinked at him, unable to comprehend what he was saying, he hadn’t heard _that_ before from either Kurapika _or_ Hisoka, but that could be due to the lack of information about soulmates in general. Potentially not all soulmate links were the same after all.

“I...”

“When did you meet? Oh, is it someone from the Hunter Exam? Or was it in the city?” he paused once again. “But… if it was from the Hunter Exam, they might have died, so it has to be someone who _passed_! Huh...” now he started to think over the options carefully, all the while Leorio smiled at him, wondering how he would connect things together. “I don’t know! I doubt it would be Killua’s brother, and Kurapika would have said something.”

“Gon, do you really want to know?” he asked, and the young boy looked up at him.

“Yea, of course. Whoever it is, that can’t be that bad if _you_ are their soulmate.” he said truthfully.

He took a breath, before taking another to make sure that he was actually calm, and to remind himself that he needed to focus on the _now_ , just like his teacher had taught him. He had to be in the present instead of worrying about the future.

“It’s..” he trailed off, because he _saw_ the future, one that would have Gon back away from him, having his other friends that he had made during the Hunter Exam leave him because of that _magician._ Yet as he looked into those hazel eyes, he reminded himself that he had to _trust_ Gon, the boy had a habit of surprising people.

“It’s Hisoka.” he finally got out.

Gon looked at him, his eyes wide, a tense silence filled the air, and Leorio prepared himself for the worst as fear coursed through him, he was going to be rejected and thrown aside, there would be no one believing in him any more.

“Really?” Gon said quietly, and the young man prepared to leave, to put down some money to pay the bill and just wallow in pity in his apartment. “That’s so cool!” he exclaimed cheerfully.

“Wha...” he was stunned, he expected a reaction but not _that_ kind of reaction. “It’s Hisoka!”

“I know, and that’s great!” there was a bright smile on his face as he looked over at him. “Granny always said that you can learn things from your soulmate, so imagine all the interesting stuff he’s learning from you.”

“I… er… I don’t know about that.” he admitted, though the boy was still smiling at him.

“I know he’s pretty scary, but I don’t think he could have a better person to be his soulmate.”

He wasn’t sure what to think any more, as usual Gon was full of surprises, even though he should expect that from him, he _knew_ to expect that from him. Still he wasn’t sure if they were good for each other, although Hisoka said they were linked for a reason, he wasn’t sure how true that really was. Did soulmates need to learn from each other, to balance each other out? Was that all there was to it?

“Is something wrong? Is he hurting you?” _now_ the Gon began to look serious, an unusual look on his boyish face.

“No, no. Er, he’s actually been pretty good to me.” he admitted with a sigh, and Gon looked at him clearly wanting to know more. “He’s paying for my tuition.”

“Really? Wow, that’s probably helping you out a _lot_!” he was smiling again at the news, since he knew how much Leorio had been stressing out about the money situation to just go through the course, never mind the money he would need _afterwards._

“He’s… also paying for where I live, so I don’t need to worry about that either. In fact I just need to pay for my food and travel, then simply save up the rest of my money.” he admitted.

“That’s so cool! Oh, but why are you upset?”

 _Now_ was the time to tell him the full truth, because soulmates were so much more than just giving each other material things, their bond was deeper than that, though Leorio wasn’t sure if Hisoka was actually capable of being able to have a deep connection like that.

“I didn’t actually know that you were fighting him yesterday. In fact I wasn’t even aware that you were at the tower at all.”

“Huh? Well...” he began, until it clicked and he nodded in understanding. “Because you’ve been visiting him.”

“Yea. We work out together at the gym on his floor. He’s also the reason why I’ve started to learn nen.”

Hearing him say that cause Gon to smile at him. “How far along are you? Do you know the basics?”

“No, am pretty bad at just quieting my mind. It didn’t help that I was _so close_ to achieving it yesterday and then...” he paused, because what happened yesterday had _never_ happened before. “Hisoka was fighting you, and all these emotions came over me.”

“Emotions?” Gon questioned him, not sure what he meant.

“Yea, it was from Hisoka. There’s a link between us, a bond of sorts, so we can feel what the other is feeling. But usually Hisoka has a wall up, so that our emotions are more muted, I think it’s so we don’t distract each other, but yesterday there was cracks and I could feel what he was feeling a lot stronger than I could before.”

“He was probably pretty excited.”

“Yea, excited, thrilled and happy. You _really_ impressed him.” he admitted, but Gon looked pleased at hearing that.

“Really?”

The way he said it, like that was what he had been _striving_ for, that he _wanted_ Hisoka to be impressed with what he was doing during the fight, with all that he had learned, his techniques, his ability to fight and land a punch, _that_ single punch that resulted in his giving him back his Hunters badge. He was trying to show him that he was going to become a strong fighter, that he would become a fighter on his level.

“Yea, you really did.”

“Good, cos we’re going to fight again...”

“I know.” Leorio said with a sigh. “I heard, and I’m kinda pissed off about that.” he admitted, he couldn’t lie to Gon about this either, and it was clear the young boy didn’t have all the information about soulmates either.

“Huh?”

“We’re soulmates, Hisoka and I. If you two fight to the death and you win? He dies right?” he began and Gon nodded. “If he dies, I die not long after.”

“Oh… _oh!”_ his eyes widened at that, and he looked rather sheepish. “He probably forgot.”

“No, he knew. In fact I was in his head when he was giving you the new challenge. He _knows_ that when one dies, the other will die too. He just doesn’t _care_.” he took off his glasses to rub his eyes. “The man is completely and _utterly selfish.”_

“Then maybe it’s something that you need to teach him, so he can learn from you?”

“Am not talking to him.” he admitted as he put his glasses back on.

“And you have a good reason to, but by not talking to him, you aren’t going to make things easier for either of you. If you are open about it, even angry about it, then you can learn _why_ it made you angry and he can too.”

“He just… I had him promise me that he wouldn’t die, for _at least_ a decade, so that I could make some kind of dent in the world, possibly a little bit more time too.”

“And he said no?”

“First he said that he wouldn’t die so soon, but after yesterday? He doesn’t _want_ to keep that promise.” he took a deep breath, wanting to move away from the subject of Hisoka and soulmates. “But what are you and Killua going to do now? Before we all meet up at Yorknew City?”

“Well we’re going to Whale Island.” Gon told him, his eyes sparkling at the thought of going home to see his family again.

“That’ll be good, he’ll get to see what life is like on the island, to be around _normal_ people.” Leorio said, because it would do well for Killua to be around people who _aren’t_ out to kill other’s, to be around people who are just living their lives as best as they can, and from what he knew about Gon’s aunt, she could be a good person for the white haired boy to be around.

“And I’ll finally have someone my own age around too.” Gon added, as the young man smiled at him, because the two boy’s were helping each other to grow in ways no one would have expected. “So will you be going back to see Hisoka?”

“Huh?”

“Are you going to talk to Hisoka? Since you’re soulmates, you should probably be talking to each other about your problems.”

He didn’t want to waste his breath on the man, he felt like he had wasted enough time on him already, even though he had been helping him financially, but he couldn’t get over this incident, he couldn’t get over what had happened during the fight.

“Maybe, I just...” he sighed. “I don’t know what to say to him.”

“Just say how you feel. There’s no point keeping things hidden, and if you can both sense each other’s feelings then there is no point in hiding either.”

Leorio nodded slowly. “I guess you’re right. I’ll talk to him, but not yet. I want to at least sort out my head. He _could_ have killed you Gon, and I would be in a state if that had happened.”

“But he didn’t, you need to think about the _now_ instead of the past.”

Everyone was telling him that, to focus on the present, to be in here and now, but he just couldn’t get his head around it fully, because the _future_ was something that he was constantly striving towards, and the past held the memories of people he cared about and created the reason for him to focus on the future, how could he ignore all of that?

“He’ll probably get under my skin...” he started.

“Sure, but that’s Hisoka, he’ll probably not give you a choice.” Gon reminded him, as he began to rub his cheek and then laughed.

Even after the beating he had from the magician, he was still able to laugh, still about to look at the positive side of things. He wasn’t consumed with hatred towards him, he wasn’t out for revenge for his defeat either. The boy clearly had enjoyed the fight they had, wanting to repeat it when he was stronger still, just to see how far he had grown.

As they finally parted ways, with Gon running off to meet up with Killua and then travel on to Whale Island, while Leorio decided to just walk around the city, to ponder over what he should do now. He didn’t want to go back to his apartment just yet, he didn’t want to deal with the silence, and though he would usually meet up with Hisoka, he knew he couldn’t. Not yet, he was still upset at what had happened yesterday.

A small part of him wished he had confided more in Gon, but he was a child, there was no need for him to have that amount of knowledge about an adult’s issue, even if he was rather smart for his age. Leorio wanted to keep that boundary, he wanted Gon to keep that kind of childhood, even if it was now going to be a lot different given that he was a Hunter now.

He began to wish that Kurapika would actually _reply_ to his messages, because then he would at least be talking to someone who had some insight into soulmates, as well as someone who was closer in age to himself too. Though he had to remind himself that the Kurta was likely also learning nen, which could be the reason he wasn’t getting in touch with him.

Then he saw _him_ , the one person that he was trying to avoid, yet before he was able to turn around and move in a different direction, the man’s golden eyes locked onto him, his gaze firm and soon he blocked his path, though Leorio _could_ simply walk around him, he didn’t.

“Should we talk?” he asked, tilting his head up slight, reminding Leorio that he was the taller one, not that it really meant anything.

“I guess.” he was resigned to his fate now, knowing that if they didn’t talk now, he would just hide away, even though he had told Gon that he had to think about what had happened, to get his head around Hisoka’s actions.

He was fully aware that he would _never_ understand this man.

“I know somewhere that we can go for dinner, if you’d like?” he offered, his tone soft and gentle, as if aware that this was a delicate time to be handling Leorio.

He wanted to say no, if only to be petty, but he reminded himself that he had to live in the moment, he needed to let this happen.

“Yea, sure.” he caught a small smile on the older man’s lips as he lead the way through the bustling crowd.

Leorio followed closely behind him, because while Hisoka was normally rather hard to miss, right now he was dressed in casual clothing, with his ginger hair down and no make-up, so he was more likely to loose him in a crowd. He checked their link, noticing that the wall was still holding up and he wasn’t able to feel _anything_ from Hisoka’s side, so he began to lower his wall slightly, but he still felt nothing. It made him wonder if perhaps the magician simply didn’t care at all, which hurt, even though on the whole it fitted a man of his character.

Until he reminded himself of how the man had spoken about his parents, the wave of love that had come through the link as he told him about them, he _did_ care about people, it was just that he was rather selective.

They entered a small restaurant, where a waiter showed them to a table at the back, placing the menu’s down and just as he was about to leave, Hisoka requested a bottle of house white wine.

“What are you up to?” Leorio asked once they were alone, already on the defensive and utterly aware of that fact.

“Nothing, I just felt that we needed to talk.” he replied smoothly.

“Bull, you don’t feel _anything_ unless it’s a fight.” he countered and saw a smirk come over the magician’s face.

“True, but as my soulmate...”

“ _No,_ you’re not going to use that as some kind of excuse. You don’t feel _anything_ , you just live to fight and kill, _that’s_ who you are. But am not that kind of person, and I know you won’t change, and I don’t _want_ to change, I don’t want someone as my soulmate who will go after my friends, who will try and fight my friends to the _death_ just because they _can_.” he scowled at him, although he wasn’t fully correct, but he barely felt any emotion that was as intense as he had felt yesterday, he needed Hisoka to be aware of that fact, that just because he clearly cared about his parents, it didn’t give Leorio much confidence in him. Because they were just two people, and really what did _he_ mean to him? Was he just a lifeline to keep him alive? “Am not that kind of person who can just overlook that kind of thing. It’s obvious that this wasn’t meant to be and...”

Before he could go on, a pale hand reached over to gently squeeze his hand, as golden eyes looked at him, there was a warning there but Leorio wasn’t sure why he was seeing it, or what the warning was about. Yet just as he was about to ask, the waiter returned with the wine, and asked if they needed more time. Hisoka answered that they did and he left them alone again.

“We’re not...” he tried once again, only for Hisoka to once again squeeze his hand again.

“No.”

“No?”

“No.” he repeated, as if that was a satisfactory answer.

“No _what_? Do you agree that we aren’t meant to...” he began only to feel his squeeze his hand with a lot more force, causing him to wince.

“ _Don’t_ say it.”

“Say what? That we...” he attempted to say it again, but once more Hisoka firmly squeezed his hand and he glared at him. “What are you doing?”

“Stopping you from doing something that you’ll regret.”

“Huh? Listen, just because you are paying for my tuition, the roof over my head and my nen teacher, you can _stop_. I’ll do it on my own, I did it before, I will again.” he sounded so confident, even though he loved the apartment he was in, knowing he was going to have to downgrade and live somewhere that had mould, damp and a shower that would only have cold running water, he would deal with it if it mean that Hisoka was out of his life.

“ _Don’t say it.”_ he repeated, and let go of his wrist, while the young man looked at him, waiting for an explanation. “Soulmates can _reject_ their bond.”

“Huh? Really? Why didn’t you say that before?” he asked, because that was a way out of this mess? He would be free of this man, he wouldn’t have to worry about if he lived or died, but those golden eyes told him to not celebrate just yet, to not be so excited at this reveal.

“Rejecting the bond will kill both of us.”

“How?” he stared at him in disbelief.

“I know of a couple who rejected their soulmate.” he took a sip of wine before continuing, as Leorio looked at him, wanting to know more. “Have you made your choice?” he asked, gesturing to the menu as the waiter walked over to them.

“Oh, uh...” he looked over the menu quickly, before picking the salmon, neither of them bothering with a starter and once the waiter was gone Leorio looked at him again. “Tell me.”

“You can reject your soulmate, but it’s best done at the start of a bond. At least then it will just be a sting, a feeling of being alone, of having lost something, but that only lasts a few months.”

“And for a bond like ours?” he recalled what Gon had said about their thread being bright, and he dreaded the answer.

“A bond that is solidified, will end in death.” he said with such finality and coldness, that Leorio shivered.

“And you knew both of them?”

“Yes. The one who rejected their soulmate right away had been in our home town for a few months, they were using our town as a sanctuary of sorts, to help them. They informed my parents about it, having seen their thread. The other couple.” he paused again to drink. “They were new, but she learned something about her soulmate that she wasn’t able to deal with, however their link was completely connected, and as much as my parents tried to help, to make sure they didn’t reject each other, the were dead in less than a week.”

“And they didn’t just...” Leorio began to suggest, though the magician shook his head.

“The autopsy showed that there had been no underlying cause for the deaths, no poision, no heart conditions, nothing.” he looked at him. “Now that you know what will happen, go ahead and reject. Though this will mean that _you_ won’t be able to accomplish any of your goals.”

It was a bitter pill to swallow when he put it like that, after all that was what Leorio had been getting on at _him_ for, wasn’t it? But the fact that Hisoka had kept this hidden, not allowing the young man to back out of this bond, though maybe that also showed that the man _did_ care, that he really did want a soulmate of his own.

Perhaps he saw his parents and wanted what _they_ had.

“So… okay we can’t simply split up. But we don’t need to be around each other. Right?”

“Hmm, though there will be times when you or I will wish to be around someone who understands us, which won’t be easily filled by friends. A soulmates link is deeper than other’s. And if you wish for some distance I will happily grant you that.” he said with a nod.

“Why did you keep it a secret? About Gon and Killua being in the tower.” he finally asked, taking a sip of his own wine now, he needed to know that at least.

“Oh, selfish reasons.” he freely admitted and Leorio just stared at him in disbelief.

“Like?” he felt his eye begin to twitch.

“I didn’t want you to leave me.” he began, though the young man scoffed, unable to believe for a second that that was true. “There is also the fact that if you were _aware_ of them rising up, you would worry more about them rather than focusing on your own nen training. They might be children, but they have proven that they are capable of fighting on equal footing to many adults.”

“They are my _friends_.” he growled at him. “That’s what friends _do_ , they _worry_ about each other, and you could have killed Gon.”

“His skills are rather impressive, though he has a long way to go.” he commented, leaning back in his chair as their food was brought out, like what Leorio was upset about wasn’t a big deal.

“Seriously?” the man glared at him once the waiter was gone. “It felt like you _wanted_ to kill him.” he shivered at the memory of that feeling that had gone through him the day before.

“Oh, I was just _excited_. Imagining his potential in the future, just how _powerful_ he will become, and that was just a mere glimpse.” the magician smiled. “He will give many a run for their money when that happens. Possibly even Killua and Illumi might have trouble if they were to fight him.”

“Huh? What are you… Aren’t you friends with Illumi?” Leorio was shocked to hear him say that, particularly since it seemed that Hisoka was close to the eldest Zoldyck son.

“Oh, I suppose I am.” he said, but there was nothing to show that he _cared_ about him in _any_ capacity, in fact he just looked rather curious at how Leorio _knew_ that he was close to him.

“Gon said you saw the two of you chatting during the exam, he figured you were friends given that Illumi showed his true self in front of you.”

“Oh? Is this jealousy I am hearing?” he teased him.

“Tch, all am jealous about is that he comes from an incredibly _rich_ family. I could be in school already with that kind of cash, no worries at all about how I will fund things afterwards, or about any debts I might rack up.” he openly admitted, because who _wouldn’t_ be with that kind of wealth?

Hisoka chuckled as he looked over at him. “Perhaps, but Illumi is the eldest som, Killua is the middle, he has far more freedom that his older brother ever could hope to have.”

“Did Illumi tell you that?” he was curious at that information he was giving about the Zoldyck siblings, was it valuable? He doubted it, but the fact that he could _tell_ the man was being honest about something made him decide to just listen.

“No, just a simple deduction. After all, Illumi did say that he was keeping an eye on Killua, as well as requiring his licence for a mission he had coming up. It sounded like he was doing the work for his mother.”

Leorio nodded, remembering when the brother’s had faced each other during the last exam. “Yea but...”

“Killua didn’t care that he had injured his mother, or his other brother, he had been running about for a while, Illumi wished for him to return, which is likely his _mothers_ orders.”

“You think he is under the thumb of his mother?”

“Perhaps. Though he never really spoke about his father.” he sighed. “Such a shame really.”

He felt the disappointment through the link, along with something else and he frowned. “Why is it a shame?”  
“Because I have heard his father and grandfather are _powerful.”_ he licked his lips as he said that, and now he could clearly tell that the other feeling was in fact excitement.

“And you are wanting to fight them? Even though you know so little about them?”

“I know the grandfather, Zeno, is _powerful_ , rumoured to potentially be a rival in that regard to Chairman Netero. His technique is known but it’s incredibly difficult to go up against. Even if I am unable to fight _him_ , I would like to try against their father, Silva.”

“But?”

“Well, you know how reckless I am, though I am aware that I am not powerful enough to go against either of them yet. If anything Illumi should be the one I’ll fight, since his power is likely to be closer to my own.”

“You said that you _wouldn’t_ be killed until I make a mark on the world…” he knew that the man would break his promise however, but maybe he could get through to him.

“Oh, so you _do_ wish to remain my soulmate instead of rejecting the bond we have? Does that mean we shall rarely see each other?” Hisoka asked, as he felt the worry, concern, _fear_ through their shared link, but he brushed it off, feeling those emotions meant nothing if his soulmate wouldn’t _verbalise_ them to him.

“No, am not going to reject you, our bond is clearly strong since I feel the need to talk to you.” he said with a scowl, before he realised that he felt more at ease now than he had earlier. Gon had been right about him needing to actually speak to the man. “I… don’t want you to be so reckless. That fight against Kastro scared me, then finding out that you were fighting Gon? That also scared me, but I was scared _for_ him. He’s still a child...”

Golden eyes looked at him thoughtfully. “So you wish for me to restrain myself?”

“No, I know that’s not your style, but I… could feel _every_ emotion you were feeling during that fight, and then I _saw_ what you were seeing at the end.”

“What?”

Leorio looked down at his plate as he spoke. “I _felt_ how you were with Gon during the fight, figuring out how best to attack him and use your Bungee Gum on him, and then at the end… When you told him that you weren’t going to fight him again in Heavens Arena, I _saw_ that.”

“You were in my head?” he interrupted him and the young man looked up at him, nodding and he frowned at this information. “How unusual.”

“What is?”

“It seems that there is indeed differences between certain soulmates.” he replied, noticing that the man wanted more information, after all right now Hisoka seemed to be holding all the cards when it came to soulmates. “My parents never experienced anything like that.”

“They didn’t?”

“No. Though it could also have been due to you being distressed, as well as trying to meditate.” even as he said those words, it was clear that he didn’t believe in them. “It’s something to look into.” he shrugged it off, though Leorio felt the tension that had begun to build up in their link, and he knew something wasn’t right, but he wouldn’t push him.

“Listen, do you promise to not actually hurt Gon?” he decided to ask.

“I won’t harm him, until he reaches his full potential.” he promised, though it wasn’t exactly what Leorio had hoped to get from him, he made do because asking him to not fight Gon at all would be too big of an ask, and the boy would go up against him at some point, just to see how far he had come.

He felt their link fully open once more, the wall between them disappearing and Leorio began to feel _all_ the emotions that were coming from Hisoka, so he could tell that the man meant what he had said. Then he spotted how he shifted, seeming more relaxed than he had previously, he had certainly put up a good act, Leorio had never noticed just how tense he had been until now. But now that he could see it, he wondered _why_ he had been like that, surely he would have known that Leorio wouldn’t have gone through with the rejection once he learned they would both die?  
“You are very good at blocking the link.” he decided to compliment him, only for those golden eyes to look at him clearly confused.

“That was all _you_.” the magician informed him, though it was clear the man was ill at ease with that knowledge.

He knew why of course. This was _Hisoka_ , he had been holding all the cards previously, he knew so much about soulmates, their bond, how everything worked, but it seemed that Leorio could feel such intense emotions; particularly towards _him_ ; and he could block him out, far better than the older man could.

“But, am useless at that kind of thing...” he began to counter, even though everything he was feeling told him that he was _wrong_.

There was a pause as Hisoka took a sip of his wine, savouring the flavours as he thought how best to reply. “You are more emotional than I am.” he concluded, feeling a wave of irritation through the link, and he smiled before looking over at him. “You are more _in touch_ with your emotions than I am. You do tend to go through an array of them after all.”

“And you just put up a front.”

“That is why you find it so easy to block me, I don’t have the emotional capacity to do so, I don’t get as heated as you do.”

“Hey...” Leorio growled at him, brown eyes narrowing.

“It’s a good thing, you can block me out _whenever_ you wish, and likely you will when you are angry.” he teased, while the younger man huffed.

“I still haven’t forgiven you for keeping it a secret that Gon was in the tower.”

“An apology isn’t my way of doing things, and you wouldn’t believe me even if I did.”

Leorio had to admit that was true, why _would_ he believe him, the only way he’d believe him would be through action.

They left the restaurant, walking through the city at a leisurely pace, with Leorio looking at the city lights, wondering where his future was going, though he now realised that his future would be short since Hisoka would take a stupid risk during a fight, but he was also full of hope too.

Hope that he would be able to make _some_ kind of mark on the world, even if it was just to help someone in need, that their family would be relieved that they were going to get proper treatment, that the poor would get access to the medical treatment they needed without having to pay for it.

And Hisoka felt _all_ of that, he felt hope wash over him, an unusual feeling but he knew where it was coming from, and he reached out to take his soulmates hand into his own, which startled Leorio but he didn’t pull away, they held each others hands until they reached his apartment building, and then Hisoka pulled him in to gently kiss his lips.

It wasn’t Leorio’s first, he had been kissed before but it had never _meant_ anything. This time? There was _meaning_ behind the kiss, this had everything in it that Hisoka couldn’t or _wouldn’t_ say.

It was a kiss that held _hope, wishes, excitement,_ and something else, though Leorio timidly kissed him back, wanting to give back the same amount of feelings that he had given through the kiss, plus _more_.

As they finally parted, Hisoka didn’t back away, instead he rested his forehead against his, and gently began to caress his cheeks with the pads of his thumbs, as he had done a few weeks ago, and this time Leorio copied him, gently stroking Hisoka’s cheeks and marvelling at how soft his skin was compared to his own stubbly face.

“Tell me.”

Leorio looked at him, but the magician’s eyes were closed, and he was unsure as to what he was meant to do, what was he supposed to say?

Then he felt it through the link, it was a wave of calmness, a warmth the flowed through him, wrapping around him like a warm hug.

“You’re my soulmate.” he said in a soft voice.

“And you are mine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> Thank you for reading Soulmates, I know this probably seems like a weird story to tell - considering I never posted the amount of chapters I was going to do for it - but it was meant to be potentially a 2 part story before it became 5 parts instead.  
> Right now am going to take a little break from this story, because I have other WIP that I would like to focus on, but if all goes well, I will be back writing more of this in the near future, hopefully.  
> Thank you for the comments, the kudos, they are very much appreciated and have kept me going throughout this process.


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